


Your Taste is Like the Wind on My Tongue

by SilverSlashes



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Biting, Blood Drinking, F/M, Het and Slash, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-11
Updated: 2014-03-30
Packaged: 2018-01-17 16:02:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 58,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1393777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverSlashes/pseuds/SilverSlashes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For centuries The Council of Vampires and Givers have ruled over the two races with rigidity and corruption. But two of their kind, vampire Jared Padalecki and giver Danneel Harris, have decided to challenge that. Now they must fight undercover to bring about a change for their races while their relationship morphs into something more. But Jared still has a destined soul mate out there somewhere. What happens to he and Danneel when he finds Jensen Ackles, Jared’s soul mate and human target of The Council? Now they have to navigate how they fit into each other’s lives all while battling the evil forces that threaten to tear them all apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Preface

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so, wow! This story took so much effort from so many people, aside from me of course. I'd like to mention that this is my first BigBang and that this story sprang to life in my head, fully-formed, not a minute too soon. I had a few weeks before sign-ups would end and so I decided that if I could get 1/3 of the story written by then I would allow myself to sign-up. I had no idea at the time that the story would grow to what it eventually became. Did I mention that this Spring was the last semester of my senior year of college? Yeah, it was a FULL semester! I was splitting my time and sanity between term papers and fanfiction and studying for finals, etc. 
> 
> To that end, this story would never have happened without a few people. Meg R. and Erin J. who do not have LJ but where willing to edit my "story, fan, thing" because they are great friends. To my super-beta babyduckling and all her wonderful support and whip-lashings! To my own personal anti-cheerleader forevernew who liked to tell me every time I saw him that I was CRAZY! He may have a point. Last but not least my fearless artist, muckette, who broke her leg in two places and still managed to crank out all the wonderful art you see for this story- thank you! I really hope you all enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing and please, please, please review!

 

Title: **Your Taste is Like the Wind on My Tongue**

Giver of My Blood, Keeper of My Heart, Warrior of My Soul

Rating: NC-17, RPF, AU  
Word Count: 58,800  
Paring(s): Jared/Jensen, Jared/Danneel, Jensen/Danneel, Jared/Danneel/Jensen  
Warnings: biting, _minor_ character death, mild abuse, slight gore  
Summary: For centuries The Council of Vampires and Givers have ruled over the two races with rigidity and corruption. But two of their kind, vampire Jared Padalecki and giver Danneel Harris, have decided to challenge that. Now they must fight undercover to bring about a change for their races while their relationship morphs into something more. But Jared still has a destined soul mate out there. What happens to he and Danneel when he finds Jensen Ackles, Jared’s soul mate and human target of The Council? Now they have to navigate how they fit into each other’s lives all while battling the evil forces that threaten to tear them all apart.

 

 [Art Post](http://muckette.livejournal.com/1162.html)

 


	2. Your Taste is Like the Wind on My Tongue

**Prologue**

The London air was cutting through her skin, a night wind coming in from the sea. It was cold and frantic, like the beats of her heart. The smell rising from the streets, from the people around her was the same stench of the last hundred years. The city reminded her of her own race of people, so beautiful on the outside yet so rotten on the inside.

They were following her, probably had one of the Seers trying to sense her out on the crowded street, and she had to slip off the grid before they caught her. Escaping from The Council wasn’t easy and she would need time to transfuse her blood so they couldn’t track her.

Danneel moved through the streets with her head down, the hood of her long raincoat thrown up despite the unseasonably dry weather London was having. Charring Cross road was full of people all rushing to or from some engagement, but Danneel paid no attention, as she was jostled, they offered a sort of cover. She tried to blend in, using her hood to cover her auburn red hair and the coat to add bulk to her slender frame.

She had been planning this for months, she wasn’t getting taken back. Danneel refused to be with that horrid excuse for a Vampire, no matter what the Seer’s saw in her future. She was destined for nothing except what she chose of her own free will. She would show them all that fate did not rule their lives, that The Council could not subjugate them. The race of The Givers had long been allied with that of the Vampires, a long and symbiotic relationship that had thrived for centuries.

But, what Danneel realized was that the Vampire race had slowly dominated The Givers until they no longer saw how little power they possessed. She would not let antiquity demand she kneel to a man who only saw her for the warm blood she could provide him. Danneel was going to show them what she thought of their rules.

She darted past the opening of an alley, moving quickly down the street where it emerged into Trafalgar Square. She felt them on her back, the eyes tracking her as she crossed the street and entered the underground. She flew across the marble entry way, jumped the ticket gates, and propelled herself towards an almost empty train headed for Deptford. The automated female voice was calling for last boarding as the doors started to close and Danneel barely slid into the train car in time.

She felt eyes on her still as she turned to see that one of The Council’s guards had managed to sprint ahead of the group and board the train with her. “Damn,” she thought she had lost all of them. Danneel tensed as Christian Kane turned towards her. He didn’t move to attack just yet, but Danneel knew that was because he thought he had her cornered. 

Chris smirked, his voice smoky, “Come on Harris, you got nowhere to go.”

Danneel tried to ignore the other three passengers who could feel the tension in the air, but could not begin to understand the source of it, “I’m not going anywhere with anyone who will take me back to _him_.”

Chris took a step closer to her, “Aw, Danneel, don’t be like that.”

He took another step, he was only ten feet from her, “You’re a Giver; you’re a Healer, he can protect you.”

Danneel practically spat in disgust, “Protect me from  _what_? From  _who_? Why do Givers even need Vampires for protection?

Her voice rose to a yell, “What are they even  _protecting_  us from?”

Chris took another step towards her, ignoring her outburst, “The Council has chosen wisely for you, Chad loves you.”

She stepped back, her spine hitting a support pole behind her, “Chad doesn’t love anyone but himself. And he’s too selfish to give me permission for another.”

She could see that he was ready to pounce, was trying to figure out the best way to incapacitate her without killing or permanently damaging her. Even on her worst day she would be damn hard to kill, but Chris was one of The Council’s trained assassins. Still, he had the weaknesses of any Giver and she had the element of surprise.

Chris grinned as she backed away from him, “You’re unarmed and untrained, just come quietly… don’t make this hard.”

She pushed the hood off of her head as her long red hair spilled down her back. Her lips quirked up into a smirk as she shook her head at him, setting her stance and readying herself for his initial attack, “how’s about, you don’t make this easy,” she said.

She saw the surprise in his eyes that she was standing her ground, but it quickly faded to anger. He attacked quickly, throwing a hard punch towards her face. She parried the first punch, knocking it aside with her left forearm and slid her body left as he brought his other hand around to make a grab at her hair. She threw herself up against the metal doors and then away as he charged at her again. 

Using all her strength, she gripped the center pole and spun her body around, extending her left leg so that the heel of her boot connected with his solar-plexus as he charged after her. He grunted, but laughed as she flung herself off the pole and away from him. The passengers were frozen, afraid to move or drawn attention to themselves as the two Givers fought.

He rubbed at his chest, “I thought Healers couldn’t hurt other beings. Or be trained as Hitters for that matter?”

She swept her hair out of her face, “I don’t enjoy it, but I was taught the basics at a young age. And I found it useful to teach myself the art of causing pain even as I studied healing.”

Chris sneered, “Your father was always soft, always bending the rules. It’s why you have all these stupid ideas in your head.”

Danneel felt a thrill of anger sizzle over her skin, but she worked to shake it off, “You don’t know a damn thing about my father.”

He moved again, almost a blur to the human eye but she saw him coming, she just couldn’t block the kick he aimed at her knees. She landed on her ass and he dove on top of her, twisting his hand into her hair and jerking her head back as she struggled to push him off. She slipped her hand into her pocket as she moved so he wouldn’t realize her intention.

He stared down at her when she became still beneath him, giving up the fight. He smiled at her with condescension, “I won.”

She tried not to reply with a smile of her own as she whispered, “Not really.”

He looked at her in confusion for the two seconds it took her to plunge the silver dagger into the side of his neck. His eyes flew open as his body jerked at the pain, rolling away from her and moving to pull the metal weapon out of his throat. As he tossed it away, blood seeped from the wound to pool on the floor of the train where he lay. 

Danneel watched as his chest stopped moving and his labored breathing ceased. She knew he wasn’t dead, just healing like all immortal Givers; when dealt a death blow their bodies shut down and began repairing with magic intrinsic to their race. Chris would live; he just wouldn’t be able to follow her for a while. 

She moved to pick the dagger up, wiping the blood on the black shirt that the Hitter was wearing, and stood as the train slowed to a stop. She ignored the horrified, screaming people in the train and stepped out onto the platform. As she moved towards the exit of the station, she pulled her hood up again. She had many more miles to travel tonight and a Vampire to find. A Vampire who, like her, had gone off the grid to make his own destiny and who she hoped would assist her. 

But Jared Padalecki was not going to be easy to find. Once someone went off the grid… they didn’t come back.

  
[Chapter One](http://silver-slashes.livejournal.com/6603.html#cutid1)


	3. Preface

  


**Chapter One**

Jared was tired of Scotland. After a few hundred years of existence and traveling around the world he was tired of most places. Mostly he really didn’t like being this close to the High Council of the Alliance Order- those superior, controlling pricks. They had given up looking for him, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t watching his back.

If they ever got their hands on him, he’d be executed for sure.  No one disobeyed the laws of The Council, no one thought for themselves, and no one rejected their assignment.  In rejecting his Giver he had knowingly done all three of these things and had subsequently eluded capture and death at the hands of The Council- those few in power who seemed to be exerting more and more of their power over those they deemed treasonous these days.  

The races were rapidly falling prey to the control of the unchanging, absolute body of power they trusted to protect them.  The Council was more interested in meddling with human affairs, like taking contracts for assassination and dealing in the black market. Not that anyone but him had discovered those particular side dealings. 

Jared shrugged out of his coat as he walked into the bar; he threw it into his usual booth in the back where he could survey the entirety of the hazy atmosphere. This was one of the only bars in Edinburgh where he felt in his element. The other pubs had been turned into funky coffee shops or rowdy sports bars. He waved to the bartender who knew by this time to send him his usual, since he had been visiting the same pub for over a year. He tossed his shoulder bag onto the table and sat down. He started getting out piles of papers and folders, spreading them out by category on the table. 

The female bartender, some student at the college who stared at Jared too long for his comfort sometimes, brought his beer over and sat it down on the table, “Hey Jared, can I get you something else tonight?”

Jared tried to ignore the way she was leaning over the table towards him, her blond hair falling over her shoulder and swaying gently against her neck. He looked up into her brown eyes and smiled at her in a friendly manner.

She knew by now what that smile meant, that he still hadn’t changed his mind about her constant offer, “No thanks Adrianne, I’m good for now.”

 She smiled in the midst of her disappointment and walked back towards the bar. He had to admire her persistence, but didn’t really understand why she kept trying after he said no the first few times she propositioned him. 

He had thought about just not coming out anymore. He always felt more comfortable keeping to the shadows or just sulking night after night in whatever current dwelling he had taken up residence in. But it was necessary; he always reminded himself, to socialize with humans so that he never stopped seeing them as people and started viewing them as food. Being apart from his own kind, without a Giver, and moving around every few months, made it difficult to not feed from humans. But he never killed, and that made a difference. 

Jared sighed as he started to boot up his laptop, the true reason he continued to go out every night and make himself walk in and out of different bars and clubs was in hope of finding _him_. Jared knew within the depths of his heart and soul that his mate was human and that he was male… and that he was out there somewhere, he just didn’t know where.

Cases like Jared’s were the exact reason that Vampires had allied with The Giver’s all those centuries ago. A Vampire needed a mate, preferably their pre-destined one but not always. Simply put, Vampires mated for life and therefore historically tended to form a lasting relationship with one person who could provide blood and companionship. The problem was that many Vampires never found their mate, the one they could instinctively tell upon meeting that they were meant for. If a Vampire held out for too many centuries, denying themselves the formation of companionship in the name of searching out their _true_ mate, then they could easily turn rogue.

The Givers, an ancient race descended from the Sidhe, were immortal yet not unfamiliar to both the human race and the changing world that had begun to grow and spread as the centuries wore on. The Givers had talents they sought to hide from the exploitative humans; still they found themselves having to exist among these same selfish, mortal creatures. 

Jared stared at the scattering of paper in front of him, not really seeing what was in front of him. He remembered his first few months as a new Vampire, his senses magnified, tingling, and his forced induction class that felt a bit like his courses at University, back when he was a student in the early seventeenth century. Basically he had been forced to sit and listen to the history of the Vampire race focusing on the alliance. 

The original intention of the alliance had been to create the best possible situation for each race. The Council was created, consisting of both Givers and Vampires who were in charge of creating and enforcing laws, choosing assignments, and making sure that the balance remained between the equality of the races. Each Vampire was paired with a Giver, neither of which chose each other, much like an arranged marriage. 

These relationships were meant to provide blood, companionship, and stability for the Vampire while offering protection to the Giver. The Vampire race had adapted more quickly to living and blending in within the human dominated world, despite the race’s own weaknesses. Therefore they could impart valuable information and assistance to the Giver’s about how to remain within the populace and yet apart from it, living sight unseen among the human race. In return, being paired with a Giver, without the choice or need to search out a mate meant that Vampires no longer went rogue.

It had made perfect sense at the time, thought Jared. If a Vampire couldn’t find their mate, or if they did and their mate was delicately human and they accidentally killed them while feeding, then maybe this whole assignment idea wasn’t so bad. Jared had waited, feeding off of temporary Givers, because he hadn’t really desired to settle down. Vampires weren’t forced into an assignment until after 150 years or so.   
 

Jared couldn’t understand though, even then, why a Vampire would just stop looking for their mate. Could it be that young Vampires knew nothing other than the rules of The Council and their assignments, or that older Vampires only remembered the frustrating futility of the search? When Jared’s own time had come, the Giver they assigned to him did nothing for him. Kerr had been funny, smart, good looking, and a talented Seer, but he just hadn’t been anything other than a really tasty friend to Jared. 

Not that having a companion was always about sex, because it wasn’t. Lots of Givers and Vampires had relations outside of their assigned pairings, with the permission of one’s companion of course. Kerr had been working as a temporary Giver to unassigned Vampires when The Council had decided to pair him with Jared. They had tried for an intimacy beyond the process of Jared drinking, but it just hadn’t clicked for either of them and Jared gave Kerr permission to start seeing another Giver he liked.

That was when Jared had begun to question the purposes behind the alliance, and its place in the modern society both races found themselves existing in. After all, if humans had given up arranged marriages in the 21st Century, couldn’t they?

Of course, liking Kerr hadn’t kept him from betraying Jared to the Council. Jared had been thinking, as it became clear that he and Kerr were going to be just friends, that he would start looking for his mate. He may have mentioned it one too many times to Kerr and, for all he had given to his Giver, all he got back was the Council issuing a decree for his execution on the basis of treason. 

As far as Kerr was concerned, it was his duty to go before the Council with Jared’s emerging fascination with finding his mate in the absence of the deep, romantic intimacy he hadn’t found with his companion. But Kerr had probably been serving himself more than he would ever admit, the jerk. Jared had been good to Kerr, despite their loveless marriage- Jared laughed to himself. Even though Jared hadn’t been as willing to accept his assignment like other Vampires and Givers seemed to, didn’t mean he hadn’t protected, cared for, and interacted with Kerr… or given him permission to seek out a sexual relationship with another Giver. 

Kerr hadn’t wanted to lose the easy ticket that he had found with Jared, doing what he wanted, with who he wanted, and all he had to do was offer his neck to Jared every so often. Jared supposed that if he was Kerr, with the best of both worlds, the Council’s assignment demands didn’t seem so bad. If Jared had found his mate who knew what would have happened, there were not laws that dealt with that scenario. Vampires hadn’t needed to search out mates for 500 years; it wasn’t a path the alliance allowed. 

But Jared wanted something no other Vampire or Giver had bothered to reach for since the beginning of the alliance, his true mate. He wanted to find his other half, to fill the hole in his soul that he could feel there. Maybe other Vampires were satisfied with what their Giver could provide, but he couldn’t fall prey to the brain-washing that seemed to affect all other members of their collective society.

He stared down at the massive amount of papers littering his bar table, the condensation from his beer making a wet ring on one stack and smearing the perfectly printed black type. He hadn’t given up on finding his mate, but the constant searching was driving him a little insane. He knew that he might search the rest of his existence and come up empty. He had prepared himself for the possibility that he might not find his mate at all, but he had escaped The Council and earned the right to at least try.

In the meantime though, he had to find a distraction. So, he had decided to keep tabs on the Council by discretely looking into their back alley dealings. It turns out they had gotten into the market of hired assassinations, which really made sense. The Vampires could use their understanding of human political structures and the Givers could utilize their best Seers and Hitters to discreetly dispose of just about anyone.

Jared rifled through the profiles of the last few victims of the Council. One was a corporate executive that had threatened to blow the whistle on his company’s money laundering. The second was a politician from a small foreign country who had garnered too many votes in the preliminaries for his opponents comfort. But, Jared couldn’t figure out the latest victim. The guy had been an executive at some huge insurance firm. He hadn’t been anyone important, hadn’t pissed anyone off, or discovered something he shouldn’t have. Jared’s research had turned up absolutely no reason why his company, or anyone else, would want him dead.

He took another sip of his beer even though it wasn’t really cold anymore. He was feeling drained, probably needed to feed. He briefly thought of Adrianne, the persistent waitress, but dismissed it. He would just find some drunk on the way home from the pub; the guy would just wake up thinking he’d passed out from too much drink instead of blood loss. 

Jared packed up his things, pissed that he couldn’t find a pattern behind The Council’s newest hired hits and even more pissed that he couldn’t really do anything about it. Or, that he hadn’t yet discovered a long term way to put an end to The Council, not just their current dealings. 

What good was his life on the run, an outcast of his own society, if he couldn’t find his mate and he couldn’t find a way to bring justice to the Alliance? There was nothing worse than being an aimless immortal.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Danneel pulled the hood of her wool coat closer to her head, trying to cover her most easily recognizable feature. There had been a time in her life that she had hated her deep red hair, not many Givers had auburn hair and it made her stand out. Though she had come to appreciate how striking her hair made her, it wasn’t conducive to trying to fit into a crowd, whether as a shy child or a fugitive. 

It had taken her months to discreetly track down a dealer who did business in and around the London area. She had been planning her escape for at least that long, since The Council had announced her assignment to Chad. Danneel ducked into an alley off the main road. Truthfully, she had been planning something along these lines ever since her father’s death. She had known then even without proof that her father had been murdered.

So, she had plotted, schemed, and inconspicuously researched the best way to break free from the oppressive society of Givers and to remain out of reach of The Council. First things first, she had to get her blood transfused so that the Seer’s couldn’t use her birth blood to track her down. She had found a dealer who sold unsavory items, blood being one of them.

She stopped as she came to the black door towards the back of the alley with the silver knocker. She tapped it twice and waited. The door was opened by a thin man, taller than her but still short for his gender. He was wearing what appeared to be yesterday’s clothes, as well as yesterday’s facial hair, as he issued her into a messy sitting room with various books and odd objects lying around. 

“Mr. Collins,” Danneel stood in the center of the room refusing to sit down,” if that is indeed your real name…”

He grinned at her, “It’s not, but my friends call me Misha.”

Danneel smirked at him, her lip curling into a smile despite her nervousness, “Somehow I doubt that you have many friends, or that Misha is your real name any more than Collins is.”

Misha began to walk through another door on the left side of the room, he called back to her, “And, it’s not.”

Danneel crossed her arms and tried to peer into the room the dealer was disappearing into, “So how does this work? You wanna see the money or whatever?”

Misha came back out with a black bag and what looked like a medical kit, “Well, now you lay down on the couch.”

It wasn’t like Danneel had a choice if she wanted to live, but she felt a stubborn streak sneaking up on her, “What prevents you from killing me?”

Misha continued to set up the equipment, sterilizing and placing instruments in neat rows on the table, “Do you have the money on you?”

Danneel felt the envelope in the pocket of her coat, “Yes?” 

Misha looked up at her with a cocky smile on his face, “Then nothing prevents me from killing you.”

Danneel looked over her shoulder towards the door and gave a nervous laugh, “Was that supposed to be, um, comforting? Because you so missed the mark.”

He stood up, “Look, I have no reason to kill you… and you can’t do this on your own. So, you’re going to have to trust me.”

Danneel thought about The Council and Chad.  She shuddered. Safety was in anonymity, and she couldn’t get that as long as the blood in her veins remained unchanged and unpolluted. If she didn’t do the transfusion she would be an easy target no matter where she tried to hide. Her choices were simple: trust this man with her life or trust The Council with her life.

She moved to lie down on the couch, “You haven’t even asked me why I asked you to steal blood and transfuse it with my own. That had to be a strange request right?”

Misha was apparently a human full of restless activity. As Danneel watched him he preformed each task with efficient skill but he never paused or even, it seemed, gave thought to his next action. 

He did talk though, “You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve had people ask me to do for them, objects they’ve asked me to procure. I’ve transfused blood for drug addicts hoping to pass tests. I’ve erased finger prints for criminals. I’ve kinda seen my fair share of weird. I even met a Vampire once.”

Danneel tried to act surprised, not that she wasn’t just a little. Could he be talking about Jared?

She winced as the needle went into her arm, spiraling through the tubes to drip into a bucket, “A Vampire? Really? What did it want?”

Misha began to set up a make shift drip bag on her other side, hanging a blood bag from a nail sticking out of the wall above her, “Oddly enough, he wanted his blood transfused too. He told me that he’d pay me by letting me sell the blood I drained out of him on the market as a curative.”

Danneel jumped a little when Misha leaned over her to sterilize her other arm for the injection site that would put blood back in her body, “Really?”

He smiled at her, “Yeah, he told me not to sell it as Vampire blood though because people couldn’t know of their existence or the healing power of their blood.”

Danneel tried to smile like she found the story as unbelievable as he wanted her to think it was, “Did you believe him?”

Misha continued to hover over her as the blood flowed in and trickled out. He sat on the table beside the couch, “of course I didn’t believe him, I repackaged the blood and sold it a few hours later. I have a quick turnaround inventory, it’s good for business. Anyway, I got drunk a few nights later and sliced my hand on a broken bottle. I was so trashed I thought it would be a great opportunity to see what would happen if I smeared the blood on my hand. So, without processing how stupid it was to put untested human blood on an open wound, I swiped my finger into a vile I hadn’t disposed of yet, and applied it to the gash.”

Danneel knew what happened, was very aware about the healing abilities of Vampires, but she asked anyway, “What happened?”

Misha held out his hands, palms up, “Do you see a scar?”

She pretended to study his unmarred skin then shook her heard.

He put his hands back on his knees, “That’s because the wound healed instantly.”

“Wait, say I did believe you. You still let him walk out of here without paying you in cash. Since at the time, you thought his payment was bogus.”

Misha looked away for a second, “Yeah, well, the guy was seriously scary when he wanted to be, and I value my life.”

Danneel felt her body getting heavy, “I feel dizzy.”

Misha placed two fingers over the pulse in her wrist, “your blood is draining out of you faster than it can flow back in, but your levels shouldn’t drop dangerously. I’ll be monitoring you through the process,” he winked at her, “so don’t worry.”

Danneel wondered what he’d do if he found out that her own blood, currently pooling into a paint bucket, was just as abnormal as Vampire blood, “Why am I not comforted?”

Her sarcasm wasn’t lost on him, “Maybe it’s my bedside manner? I’ll have to work on it.”

She let her head fall back onto the arm rest of the couch as her gaze shifted around the room. Here she was letting some shady, no doubt alcoholic, perform a complicated medical procedure in an unsterile environment where she could easily be attacked. The draining of her blood would make her weak, and she wasn’t safe until she could let her body regenerate. Her body would need to shut down for a few hours so that it could filter the new blood and bond it to the magic that kept her alive and young forever.

She wasn’t worried about the transfusion itself; Givers had no fear of contracting mortal diseases or of things like blood infections or blood type compatibility. But she would have to trust this Misha guy to watch over her during the switch, and the longer she stayed in close proximity to her old blood the sooner she’d be caught. 

Her head was swimming and her stomach lurched as more and more blood dripped out of her. She heard Misha move towards her again. 

He snapped in her face, “Hey! Hey, stay with me a bit longer.”

He leaned over to check her other side and make sure the blood was still going into her other vein, “All the old blood is almost out. What’s your name?”

His question startled her, but she wasn’t so far gone she couldn’t lie, “Rachel. My name’s Rachel.”

It scared her sometimes how good she had become at lying, her entire life was a lie and she hadn’t realized just how big the lie was until it had almost been too late. She knew he was right about the blood, she could feel the familiar essence that had been her birth blood for over 80 years leaving her body. Soon the newer blood would fill that familiar hole, but right now it felt like death. She was cold and tired.

She turned her head, which seemed to take a great deal of effort, and spoke to Misha, “I’m goin’ sleep for now because I’m really tired. I’ll warn you that I’m a really heavy sleeper and with the whole loosing blood thing it may be worse. If I don’t wake up for a few hours or if my breathing slows down don’t panic, ok?”

He nodded but looked a bit weary, “I’ll just keep checking your pulse and I’ll have something for you to eat when you wake up. Don’t worry, you look a healthy twenty-six, it won’t’ take but a few hours for the lethargy to wear off.”

She laughed that he assumed she was the twenty something she appeared to be. She was worried though. Danneel still thought there was the possibility that he could check her pulse at the peak of her healing sleep and find that it had stopped beating. It was a risk she would have to take, just like all the other risks she had been taking lately. It was like her life the past few months had been a free fall and the terror was in knowing she could hit the ground any minute. 

With one last reassuring smile to Misha, though she wasn’t sure why she was reassuring him since her life was in his hands, Danneel closed her eyes and let herself be dragged into the black serenity of a Giver’s healing sleep. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Chad liked the way the heels of his boots clicked on the marble floor as he marched towards the doors that would lead to The Councils inner chambers. It sounded menacing, urgent, important. It sounded like the auditory parallel of pissed off, which was great because that’s what he was. 

He threw open the doors even though they were solid gold and at least 12 feet high. The Council members were all seated around a raised dais, much like a human court room. Torches lit the walls which housed glittering mirrors in gold frames, priceless paintings and tapestries, and the centerpiece of the room a vast wall with shelves upon shelves of small black drawers with small silver name placards on the front.

Within those drawers was the vial of birth blood for every single Vampire and Giver within the two races, thousands and thousands of tiny vials kept under lock and key within this room and personally guarded by The Council when they were in session. Like a library, there were ladders for accessing the top drawers. Though, the last time a drawer had been opened was 3 years ago, when Padalecki had gone rogue and rejected his assignment. The seers had been given the blood to seek his location, but the Vampire had outsmarted them and drained himself of his birth blood. 

Chad’s fear was that Danneel would somehow know that a transfusion should be her first course of action after eluding the Hitters that had been sent after her. If she managed to do that she would be three times harder to locate. In fact, The Council still hadn’t found Padalecki. He wouldn’t lose Danneel.

He bowed low before looking up into the eyes of his elders, “Have you located her?”

One of the oldest Vampires, a key instigator of the Alliance, Eric Kripke, leaned over to look down at Chad. His voice was deep and calm, “The Seer’s had traced her to Deptford but then their sight failed. We may still be able to trace her blood to the exact location, but the weakness of the bond suggests that she has already drained herself of her birth blood.”

Chad tried not to stomp his foot, “Damn it! You were supposed to catch her and bring her back to me before she wised up and transfused!”

Eric looked down his nose at him, “I find your anger unhelpful, I’m sure you will also once you tire yourself out with your temper.”

Chad tried to cool himself down, but it was hard. Danneel had been given to him through assignment, she was his and she had subjected herself to his every wish just like he’d demanded of her. Now he realized that her submission had been a carefully laid trap meant to trick him into a false sense of security. 

He steadied his voice, “Will you continue to look for her?”

Eric looked to the other members of The Council, “We will. It appears that her father’s influence went much deeper than any of us suspected. There is no telling what kind of nonsense he filled her head with. The Council feels she poses an even bigger threat than Jared Padalecki did with his antiquated notions about finding his true mate.”

Chad nodded, “I heard she stabbed one of your Hitters in the throat.”

Eric nodded once, “He under estimated her, but he will live. We have all underestimated both her abilities and knowledge; supplemented by years of self-training in skills she had no business learning.”

Chad felt this was a subtle hint that he should have controlled Danneel better, he bristled, “She hid herself well from me it seems. I had no indication that her thoughts ran rebelliously underneath the serene, submissive surface she presented.”

Sera, the Giver to Eric’s right, and his assigned companion, spoke up, “Ms. Harris has fooled us all, it seems that just as her father helped Mr. Padalecki to escape so his earlier, secretive teachings have assisted his daughter in slipping our grasps. The Council will not tolerate disobedience of our ways. The laws of assignment have been effective in keeping our races strong and vibrant throughout these many centuries…”

Eric broke in, “… she will die, once we capture her. You will be reassigned to an unpaired Giver.”

Chad had expected this, “That is acceptable, yet I ask one small favor.”

The Council shifted in their seats, Sera spoke again, “What favor do you ask of The Council?”

Chad grinned, “When you bring her in, give me some time with her before you execute her. I want to make my, um, displeasure known to her.”

Chad thought that both Eric and Sera were hiding a true smile behind their smirks as they replied as one, “Granted.”

Chad turned and strode from the chamber, his boots clicking on the floor once more. Once Danneel was hunted down by The Council he would be allowed his time with her. She would know his anger. No one rejected Chad Michael Murray. Danneel Harris was his, and before that red-headed bitch died, he would make sure that she knew it to the very depths of her soul. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Danneel decided that she would travel north to Edinburg and make her way around the local bars there. After all, the one place people trying to hunt you down and kill you didn’t look for you was in there own backyard. The Council assumed that anyone running from them would run as fast and as far away as possible. Just in case she bought a plane ticket to Tokyo, and another to New York City, before using cash to purchase a train ticket to Scotland. 

It was fortunate that all Giver money had been circulated into human currency, protected mostly by the human banking system for some time now. She had been storing up cash for a year now taking enough from her bank accounts to amass a good wad of cash, but not enough to make any single withdrawal look suspicious to Chad. He had been watching her every move, not because he suspected her of anything but because he was a controlling asshole.

She was going to have to work on creating a new identity for herself, but first she had to find Jared. He could help her with securing her lasting freedom and figuring out what exactly The Council was so involved in that they had all ceased to care about the betterment of the races. What once had worked to safe guard their ancient races now only enslaved them. Yet The Council continued to silence any who spoke out against the strict order they imposed to hide their more sinister schemes.

Edinburg was cold and windy, the normal climate for the city that seemed to grow out of the rolling green hills surrounding it. She stood in the center, outside the train station wondering which direction to wonder in. She needed clothes and a place to stay, some food wouldn’t hurt either. Misha had fed her before sending her on her way but the blood transfusion had still taken a lot out of her, both magically and physically. 

Deciding that the easiest thing to do was go shopping first, she headed over to the newer side of Edinburg, where the buildings looked more modern and the signs held more brand names. Sure enough she found a mall after wandering around for a while. Danneel had always loved clothes and shopping, but she had left her considerable closet behind when she ran. She took only her laptop, the fake identifications she had purchased for herself at a premium price, and as much cash as she could carry. 

She didn’t know how long she would be traveling or when she might have to bolt so she decided to buy the bare minimum. She bought a cheap duffle bag at a sports store and then made her way over to the biggest clothing store in the mall. She purchased 2 pairs of jeans, 2 sweaters, 2 t-shirts, and a pair of jogging pants. She looked down at the clothes she was wearing: jeans, long-sleeved knit top, a medium length wool pea coat, and leather boots with no heel. She was definitely dressing for comfort.

On her way to the counter she stopped by the lingerie trying not to stare at all the lacey panties and bras everywhere. Lingerie was her weakness; she had drawers full of different colored undergarments of every different material and type in her bedroom back home. She didn’t wear them for people, though Chad had seemed to appreciate every pair. She wore them because it made her feel sexy, just on the inside. Sexy panties, cute clothes, and hot shoes made her feel confidant and in control.

But she couldn’t let her old habits burn a hole in her pocket or weigh down her bag. She made a beeline for the sale bins towards the back wall and picked up a few pairs of non-descript cotton panties in different colors and patterns. As she made her way out, determinedly not looking at the black teddy hanging on a rack to her left, she grabbed a bra from the rack on her right. It was black and it looked comfy. If she was going to be hunting down a Vampire and running for her life she wanted to be comfortable.

When she had been assigned to Chad he had gotten pleasure in giving her occasion to dress up. They went to grand parties hosted by members of The Council; they went out to human dance clubs. He would give her lavish, sexy, expensive dresses for each occasion because he could. Chad valued her because she was beautiful and because she was his. She had been his shiny new toy for the past few years, but she wasn’t going to stick around to see how long it took for him to grow tired of her.

The lady at the counter eyed her suspiciously when Danneel just asked her to fold the new clothes and place them in her duffle, but she complied. Her last stop was a shoe store to purchase some tennis shoes, because the boots were great but she would eventually need a switch out. 

At the shoe store the guy at the counter practically drooled at her as he rung up her purchase. She knew that she was attractive, was used to being stared at and complimented, but it still made her a bit uncomfortable when men became incoherent around her. She smiled at him as she handed over the money.

She flipped her hair over her shoulder as he handed him her change back, “Look, I was wondering where a good hotel around here was?”

The guy looked stunned that she was talking to him for a second, “Um, well, there’s the Edinburgh Residences, which is, um, a really posh kind of place.”

Danneel smiled at him, “Thanks, could you maybe give me directions?”

He smiled back and seemed to relax a bit, “Yeah, so you go out the main entrance of the mall which is outta here to your right. Then, you turn left on the side walk…”

She listened to him as he explained how to get there while she zipped her new shoes up in her bag with the socks she’d purchased. She thanked him and left before he tried to ask her out and she had to shoot him down. 

The hotel was quite nice, she was a bit nervous trying out her new passport and ID, but the woman at the front desk just smiled, “Thank you for choosing the Residences, please enjoy your stay in Edinburgh. You’re room number is 206 and the bellman will help you with your luggage.”

An older man appeared before her, but she just handed him a few pounds and declined, “Um, no thanks, I think I can manage.”

The man smiled and stepped out of her way, pointing her towards the elevators across the lobby. 

Her room was spacious and luxurious with a separate sitting room and bedroom with a large shower and tub in the adjoining bath. The room was one of the cheapest here but still quite pricy, if she had been planning on staying more than a few days she would have gone more economical. But damn it, if she couldn’t have nice underwear then she at least wanted to sleep on a comfortable bed. She couldn’t guarantee that her surroundings would always be this nice. She had no way of knowing how long it would take her to track down Jared.

The Council, and Chad, had no idea that she had known about transfusing, though they should have figured it out since she had studied as a Healer. She would have run across texts on birth blood. They also wouldn’t expect her to have fabricated her own identity or to have purchased a personal and financial history for this identity via the internet. Her strength, and their weakness, was that they would consistently underestimate her.

Danneel spent some time pulling the tags off her clothes, putting them back into the duffle with her sneakers and toiletries she had bought as a last minute thought in the lobby gift shop. A small, cheap zip bag held things like a toothbrush, lotion, a brush, and all types of miniature bottles of soaps, shampoos, and conditioners. 

Her shoulder bag, containing money, identification as Rachel Gatina, and her laptop sat on the chair in the bedroom where she tossed it. Sooner or later her alias would have to get a bank account and credit cards; she couldn’t continue to carry around the huge amount of cash she had in her bag right now. But for the next few days she would concentrate on finding Jared and lying low. 

If her ‘Find Jared Padalecki’ plan went long-term, then she would start establishing herself as Rachel Gatina, world traveler.  She would also need to dye her hair at some point, since red often made her stand out in a crowd. She really didn’t want to do that. Maybe the hood of her coat would work, she’d just cover her hair up in public, in daylight... not like she’d be out during the day all that often. 

She decided to take a shower since she hadn’t had one since she slipped out of the quarters she shared with Chad at the Palace of the Alliance. The blood transfusion had left her feeling unclean and her veins still itched from the new blood. Her body and her magic had accepted the new substance, but psychologically it still felt foreign flowing inside of her. 

Her shower was relaxing; she let her muscles uncoil as the hot water beat down over her and fogged up the bathroom. She had been considering just falling asleep on the floor, letting the warm water wash away her stress, when her stomach growled. She was tempted to call room service and just sit on the couch with an ice cream sundae and the TV drowning out the voices in her head that told her this whole plan was crazy and she was going to be captured and executed for sure. 

She resolutely stepped out of the shower, toweled off, dried her hair, and threw on a new set of clothes. She had to get started at some point and her life had become time sensitive if she wanted to maintain her freedom. If she had to eat she might as well get a head start on searching all the local dives for any sign of her fugitive Vampire. She just had to recognize him on spot and approach him without being attacked on suspicion alone. She laughed to herself, easier said than done. 

Jared would easily recognize her magical signature since he was also a supernatural creature himself. Being on the run would no doubt make him more paranoid to anyone who he recognized as a member of either of their races. If their roles were reversed, she wouldn’t take the risk of capture by not kicking ass first and asking questions later. There was the slightest possibility that he wouldn’t recognize her. They hadn’t exactly been in the same circles within the Palace, since she was a younger Giver studying to be a Healer and he was an assigned Vampire who tended to keep to himself despite his wealth and status within their society. 

But he and her father had been acquainted, back when her father had been a member of The Council… back when her father had been alive. Just three short years ago he had been her rock and she had been his precious little girl. She winced at the painful memory of him; his death was a wound deep within her that she wasn’t sure would ever really heal. Immortals weren’t supposed to lose their parents. But she had lost her father to the greed of others and her mother’s identity was a secret her father had taken to his grave. 

One of the many secrets, she was starting to realize, he hadn’t shared with her. Of course there had been many secrets he had shared with her. His growing disillusionment with the society he was charged with governing and his mistrust of the other Council members. But he hadn’t told her where he was going the night he was killed, the same night three years ago that Jared Padalecki had disappeared into the London night never to be seen again.   


[Chapter Two](http://silver-slashes.livejournal.com/6665.html#cutid1)


	4. Your Taste is Like the Wind on My Tongue

 

**Chapter Two**

Jared looked up at the crooked wooden sign of Deacon and Brody’s pub, standing in the cold wind that howled down The Mile in the oldest district of Edinburgh. He had thought that maybe he would try a different spot tonight, maybe not get hit on by young, naive waitresses that didn’t know to leave well enough alone before they woke up in a dark alley with a dizzying headache and two puncture marks on their neck.

This place looked like the kind of busy, smoky, dark atmosphere he needed to blend in. They also served a delicious steak pie because he could smell if from the street. Solid food didn’t really sit well with his system, but he might make the sacrifice for the fleeting taste of meat and potatoes he remembered from his childhood. He pushed the door open and walked in, weaving around people and tables to get to the bar for a Guinness. 

He made it to the end of the bar, was holding up his hand to signal the bartender, when the door opened and his skin started to tingle. His gut clenched as he recognized the feeling of another magical signature brushing up against his own. His head swam at the possibilities. He rarely, if ever, came into contact with another Vampire or Giver and he was often long gone by the time they even considered the possibility that he could be the famed Jared Padalecki, villain, rogue, scourge of their race, etc. As a rule, he tended to avoid cities he knew Vampires or Givers had relocated to. That was why he was in Edinburgh, Vampires on the British Isle tended to stay close to The Council and The Palace in London.

But this person, whoever it was, was a Giver and, Jared took a deep breath, a woman. He turned slowly towards the door, catching his breath as the woman flipped back her hood letting her hair spill out and around her face as her green eyes surveyed the bar patrons slowly, looking for something… looking for someone. 

Jared sucked in a small, surprised breath as he recognized her. Memories, fresh in his mind, of the night The Council issued the directive for his immediate capture. Mark Harris had burst into his quarters, shouldering past Jared to get in after his loud and panic’d knocking. 

“Jared, you’ve got to get outta here. They know, they’re angry,” the older Giver, who didn’t look a day over his mid-thirties, had been nervous and agitated. 

Jared had been slow on the uptake because he hadn’t been expecting Kerr to betray him to The Council, “What are you talking about?”

Mark Harris just sighed, “Kerr went to the Council about your continued obsession with your mate. They are calling it dissension and they’re going to kill you. Your only chance is going off grid and transfusing your birth blood.”

Jared had been so confused he’d all but yelled at the man as Mark shoved a bag into his hands and pushed him towards the door, “But, you _are_ The Council!”

“No, I’m The Resistance,” he had said it with such a sad humor, and Jared hadn’t understood at the time.

But, he understood it now.

Mark Harris had a child, a petite and funny red-headed girl who Jared remembered seeing from time to time, but had been too old to be in her social circles. If Jared was right, then this Healer was Danneel Harris. Jared just wasn’t sure that he could trust her to be anything like her father. 

He decided not to chance a confrontation in the bar and made his way back towards the bathrooms and what was hopefully a side exit into the alley that ran beside the pub. If she sensed him, if she recognized him, no matter what side she was on or why she was here, she would follow him. 

Sure enough she stepped carefully out of the exit a few seconds after he did, quickly scanning the poorly lit alley to find him. He noticed that she had her hand in one pocket the other brought up in a protective gesture over her throat. Well, she wasn’t stupid, he’d give her that. What was she clutching so tightly in that coat pocket of hers? One way to find out, he thought.

He bolted out of the shadow he had been standing in to wait for her, meaning to pin her somehow. She lunged to the ground though, rolling out of his reach and back up onto her feet with surprising speed and agility. Her reflexes were spot on, which gave him pause.

He began to move around her and she moved in counterpoint so that they were circling each other. Jared smiled; he hadn’t really fought anyone in a long time. There had been no need to engage in combat for sport since his days at The Palace, and he hadn’t needed to defend himself in his past three years as a loner. Most people just looked at his height and broad shoulders and they knew to stay away. It seems that Danneel Harris was a little more daring than most. 

He lunged across the circle and aimed a punch to her shoulder to knock her off balance, but she spun away from the swing and aimed a kick towards the center of his back. He spun around as her foot began to connect with his spine. Moving to block her kick he brought up his arm to deflect her blow. 

Danneel saw him lunge at her from her left side but she was still a little too off balance to avoid his advance. He used his body weight to push her forward until she stumbled back. He caught her around the waist as she fell back. She had only a second to think before he tossed her up against the brick wall of the alley, his hand flying out to grip her wrist and jerk her hand away from her throat. 

She inhaled sharply as he leaned in to sniff at her neck, but he hadn’t grabbed her other hand, just her coat lapels. She whipped out the silver dagger she had been clutching in her coat and put the tip on his jugular, applying pressure.

Jared hissed as the tip of the blade stung his skin. The clever woman had been gripping a silver-bladed knife, which already told him two things: she was more capable than she looked and she had a reason to fear for her life. Maybe not from him, but from someone else.

Jared smiled and briefly flashed his fangs at her, “Healer’s don’t usually carry weapons.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and twisted the tip of the dagger, “Healer’s don’t usually have fathers like mine.”

Jared grinned, “You do have a point Ms. Harris.”

He swallowed and the skin of his throat slipped along the point of the silver blade, “Do you work for The Council?”

She tried to still her labored breathing, “If I worked for The Council don’t you think I’d be doing something a bit more extreme than holding this dagger at your throat?”

Jared held her gaze for a few long seconds, “Maybe… maybe not.”

Danneel’s arm twitched where he had it pinned against the wall, she gripped the dagger tighter, “So are we going to stand here until you get hungry and lunge for my neck and I drive this dagger home? Or are we going to call some kind of truce?”

Jared flexed his grip on her wrist and coat collar, “Depends on if I think I can trust you.”

Danneel huffed, “Let’s put it this way- if The Council does show up, they’re going to have a hard time deciding who to kill first.”

Jared relaxed his hold on her a bit, “You’re running from them?”

He released her and stepped away, “That’s bold.”

She slipped the dagger back in her coat pocket, “Do you mean bold period, or bold because I’m a woman?”

Jared laughed, “I mean no one’s ever done it but me, and sometimes even I doubt my sanity. If they ever found me… if they ever find you…”

Danneel looked up at Jared, he was at least half a foot taller than her, “I’m dead… yeah, I know.”

She looked up and down the alley and then back at him, “So, you’re going to trust me? Just like that?”

Jared shrugged, “Well, I don’t really want to kill you, so I guess I have to believe you.”

Danneel laughed, throaty and deep, “Um, thanks, I guess.”

Jared watched as she sized him up for a second, “Look, um, Jared, you can call me Danneel, ok?”

Jared stuck his hands in his pockets, he felt a little out of his depth with her. He wasn’t sure if it was because he hadn’t interacted with his own kind in so long or if it was because they had barely known each other even before they were fugitives. He looked at her slender frame, full breasts, luscious hair, and long legs… or it could be something else. He did a mental double take of his own thoughts; it had been a long time, like a hundred years, since he had even entertained the idea of sleeping with a woman. 

There had been a period of time when it had just been women, then he moved on to men and that kind of stuck. Then he got assigned Kerr, and since he went off grid there hadn’t been anyone. He hadn’t allowed himself to mix drinking with sex because he had been drinking from mortals. He didn’t trust himself not to accidentally drain some human in the middle of sex. And, if he was being honest, he had been too busy searching for his mate (or, you know, moping) to think about sex with strangers. 

He smiled and nodded, “I think, Danneel, that we need to talk.”

She nodded, “yeah, we do. I…” she looked up and down the alley again, “… can we not do this here, it’s too open.”

Jared ran a hand through his hair; he wasn’t offering his place up just yet. He still didn’t trust her fully despite his earlier words, “where do you suggest?”

She looked up to meet his eyes, “we can go back to my hotel room.”

Jared leaned into her again and sniffed, “you’ve already gotten a transfusion… you smell different. That’s good, means you’re smart enough to cover your tracks.”

He straightened up and turned to exit the alley, moving towards the street. She looked at his retreating back for a second and then jogged to catch up with him.

Danneel bristled at his insinuation that he expected her to be incapable. Her tone was brisk when she spoke, “First, don’t sniff me without permission. Second, I’m more than competent at taking care of myself. Third, I had an asshole for a companion… I don’t need another one.”

Jared smiled at her prickly tone, but sobered when she mentioned her assignment. He turned to look down at her as she started them off in the direction of her hotel, “hey, look, I’m sorry if I’m being stand-offish. I haven’t been around others like me in three years. But, I know what it’s like to be dissatisfied with your assignment. I get how it feels to, you know, want more for yourself.”

Danneel looked up at him and he saw the brief flash of sadness as it entered her eyes and then faded away again. He wondered if the sadness was for him or for her, “I know, it’s why I needed to find you.”

Jared wasn’t sure what to say, or what she thought he could do for her. He just let her lead the way as they walked silently through the chilly Scottish night, with the street lamps lighting their way. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==

Danneel pushed the button for the elevator trying to ignore Jared’s massive frame lurking behind her. She wasn’t going to lie to herself, it was difficult. She could count on one hand the memories she had of Jared, and they were much more like short encounters. The Palace was the size of a small town, it _was_ possible to live your life and hardly ever come into contact with some of its residents. The memories of him she had been able to remember, weren’t accompanied by any strong recollections of him being attractive to her. 

There was no doubt, after he had pinned her in the alley and her knees had gone a little shaky before she could wrestle control over her body, that she desired him on some level. He was tall, somewhat tan, with hazel-green eyes, and gorgeous brown hair that hung down above his eyes and curled over his ears. She could easily tell by the cut of his coat that he had broad shoulders and a lean waist.

He leaned against the side of the elevator opposite her and watched her from the corner of his eye. Normally her every instinct would tell her to not get mixed up with this guy. Chad had made her rethink ever getting involved with anyone ever again, especially a Vampire. She was her own person, she could take care of herself, and she wasn’t going to let someone own her ever. Period. End of story.

Unfortunately, she and Jared were in the same boat and there was nothing to do _but_ get mixed up with each other. She was more likely to survive with the expertise he had acquired on the run these last few years and, truthfully, she needed a friend- not a companion, a keeper, or a pimp, but a friend.

Danneel knew she would need to be ready to make Jared an offer if he wasn’t keen on the idea of them teaming up.  They could make it apart, but they would be stronger together. He knew how to survive life on the outside, and she could catch him up on what life had been like on the inside these past three years. She was willing to entice him with the promise of being his acting Giver. If he didn’t try to own her like Chad had tried to, and she showed that she wasn’t possessive by actively helping him search for his mate, maybe they could create a mutually beneficial relationship. 

She opened her hotel room door and ushered him in, taking his coat and hers and throwing them on the table by the door. 

“I would offer you a drink, but I don’t have anything here,” she gestured around the room.

Jared sat down on the couch, “I see at least one thing here that I’d love to drink.”

She smirked, “That particular beverage isn’t on the menu right now.”

He shrugged, “Shame, really.”

Danneel crossed her arms over her chest as she moved to stand in front of him, “If it was on the menu, strictly speaking, would you be willing to partner up with me?”

Jared tilted his head to the side as if to hear her better, “Do you mean, if you were willing to become my Giver, would I let you live with me?”

Danneel scoffed, “I think it entails a bit more than that, but yeah. Look, we’re both in the same place with this whole off the grid thing and I think we should stick together.”

Jared frowned, “I don’t want another Giver and I don’t want some tag along. I’ve been making it on my own for awhile now, and it looks like you’re not in any need of protection if tonight was anything to go by.”

Danneel tried not to smile at his compliment, “Things are changing, society is changing, and The Council is getting… worse. I think now is the time to stick close to people you know you can trust. So far, we’re the only people of our kind to escape.”

Jared pinched the bridge of his nose; vampires couldn’t get headaches, but he could feel the shadow of a painful memory. When he was human he had really bad headaches, migraines is what they called them now, “Look Danneel, it’s not you, ok? I’m just better off alone.”

He heard her make a tisking noise, “Isn’t that what people who are afraid of intimacy say?”

Jared felt his anger rise to the surface; his more negative emotions were closer to the edge now than they had been in years past. He was aware that he either needed his mate, or a Giver, to help subdue the part of him that was slowly losing his humanity. But, he wasn’t close to finding his mate and his first and last assignment hadn’t ended well.

“Yeah, well, the whole reason I’m here talking to you now is because my Giver betrayed me. I don’t think I would have had the determination to actually defy The Council and look for my mate if not for…” he had been about to say, your father, but wasn’t sure how much Danneel had been aware of her father’s activities, “… the fact that I had to run to save my own neck.”

“What, do you think I’m here with my own neck on the line, because I’m bored?” Danneel laughed without humor, “My assigned companion, Chad, thinks my entire purpose in life is to look good on his arm and in his bed. The last thing I’m looking for is to saddle myself to some controlling Vampire who will just use and abuse me because deep down their bitter that I’m not their mate. 

Danneel scoffed, “I don’t give a shit what The Council says, years of tradition can’t overcome an instinct as primal as a Vampires desire to find their true mate.”

Jared pinched the bridge of his nose, “Look Danneel, you’ve got a lot to offer, well, anyone and any sane person, including me, should know better than to try and stamp down your spirit and independence.”

He looked at her, “But I can’t pretend that the minute I find my mate, I’m not going to turn my back on whatever kind of bond we begin. And it sounds like you already know that.”

Danneel shrugged, “I get it. Whenever we find your mate, and I’ll even help you look for her or him or whatever, then I’ll go my own way. I’ve never been the kind of girl who holds stock in romantic assignments. I just know you’ll treat me better than Chad did and that’s enough for me.”

Jared smiled, “So you want us to be like, how do teenagers describe it nowadays, uh, friends with benefits?” 

Danneel nodded, “Exactly. I get to be myself, do my own thing, and I don’t have to travel alone. You get blood, sex, and someone to talk to after three years of being all alone.”

She walked into her bedroom to drop her shoulder bag, “So, whata’ya say? We watch each other’s backs? I’ll keep an eye out for those pesky Hitters and you keep searching for that mate of yours? Deal is, you don’t ever lie to me and I won’t ever hold you back.”

Jared narrowed his, “you know, you walk a fine line between aloof and needy. Why do you want a companion who can’t fall in love with you when you are risking your life for your freedom?”

Danneel’s voice floated in from the bedroom, “because there’s a fine line between independent and lonely. And good friends are hard to come by.”

Jared tried to find a catch, somewhere in her whole proposition where one of them ended up getting the raw end of the deal, but he couldn’t. What he wanted was a Giver who understood his desire to find his true mate. What she wanted was an equal who wouldn’t try to smoother her with misplaced, instinctual feelings over an absent mate. 

Jared looked at Danneel as she came back in from the bedroom, “I guess this could work. I mean, I’m getting really tired of having to watch what I eat.”

Her face broke into a grin and she gave a small chuckle at his humor, “Yeah, and I’m getting tired of having to sleep with someone I don’t like.”

Jared frowned, “I haven’t had sex in three years, so I really can’t feel your pain on that one. At least you were having sex.”

Danneel raised an eyebrow, “I’m sorry, I thought I just heard you say that you hadn’t had sex in three years?”

Jared gave a humorless laugh, “I couldn’t risk killing a human accidentally in the heat of the moment, drinking too much blood or being too rough, and all I had to choose from were humans. My more violent emotions are closer to the surface these days. It was easier to just abstain until I found my mate... if I _find_ my mate.”

Danneel gave a low whistle, “Well that sucks in a very big way.”

Jared sighed heavily, “Oh no, actually, I’ve become quite attached to my celibacy. In fact, I’d appreciate it if we could take this new thing kind of slow. You know, maybe I can take you out to dinner the next few nights, then later this week you can move into the place I have here, with me. I figure after a good month of living together we could maybe travel together a bit. I think I’ll be ready to sleep with you after maybe 6 months?”

Danneel knew her mouth was hanging open rather ridiculously, but he couldn’t be serious? Here he was sitting in front of her looking like sin on a stick and he wanted to turn this into a courtship? What was he looking for in a Giver, seven levels of compatibility? Wasn’t he a bit too old to still be thinking in mortal terms? Why did he even care about the build up if he was still set on finding his mate?

She was still trying to find an appropriate remark when Jared’s serious face split into a bright smile and he burst out laughing, “You should see your face!”

Danneel gave him a withering look when she realized he had been joking. She took a pillow from the chair beside her and tossed it at his head.

She said, “Oh, you think it’s funny now, but just wait till I decide that I _should_ make you wine and dine me first. Then, we’ll see whose laughing, you sarcastic asshole.”

He shrugged after catching the pillow as it connected with his chest, “Aw, you’ll get used to it.”

She supposed she would, they would be spending a lot of time together in the foreseeable future. The thought made her sober for a second, “Jared, you realize that we just initiated our own companionship? I mean, we chose each other for an assignment, no one…” she looked over at him as she dropped into the chair across from the couch, “no one’s ever done that before.”

Jared smiled sadly, “Maybe if everyone had been given the option of choice in the first place we wouldn’t even been in this mess.”

Danneel shrugged, “Nah, I’d have found something wrong with the status quo. It’s what I do, swim against the current.”

“See, that’s why we’re goin’ get along so well,” he said, “Lately, I find myself more willing to seek out a good uphill battle these days. I’m gonna need someone on my side whose up for the challenge.”

Danneel tilted her head to the side and her eyes sparkled with curiosity, “Whata’ya mean by lately, and challenge?”

Jared was weary and he really didn’t want to get into it, he hadn’t expected her to see through his comment, “It’s a long story that I really don’t want to get into. How about I promise to tell you later?”

Danneel decided not to push her luck with him until she knew how far she could reasonably push, “That’s fine, but I’ll be holding you to that promise.”

She stood up, “Well, I think I’ll take another shower before I go to bed.”

She sniffed her shirt, “I smell like damp trash from where you threw me onto the pavement of that alley.”

She watched as his eyes widened and he stood up, “Threw you down?! I most certainly did not _throw you down_ onto the street. You dove to the pavement all on your own, and then you rolled around for good measure.”

She burst out laughing, “gotcha.”

His face relaxed as he ran a hand through his hair laughing a little, “never let it be said that you don’t give as good as you get.”

She cuffed him on the arm, “damn straight.”

He caught her hand and kissed her knuckles, “well, I believe that I’ll leave you to your shower. I’ll come back tomorrow night.”

Danneel felt her stomach tighten as Jared’s lips pressed softly against her skin, his large, warm hand gripping her smaller one. She might actually need to take a cold shower. Breaking from his hold and turning quickly to hide her arousal, though he could probably smell it anyway, she made her way towards her bedroom.

Looking over her shoulder she said, “That sounds great, I’ll see you then. I have no doubt you can see yourself out. Goodnight, Jared.”

Jared watched Danneel’s hips sway in her jeans as she disappeared into her room. He could indeed show himself out like she had said. But then, he could very easily sense her arousal. It had been faint in the elevator, but had been growing since then. As he kissed the back of her knuckles he felt it sweep over him in waves, a sweet and heady scent that made his teeth ache and his cock throb in his now too tight pants. 

Jared heard the shower turn on and made his decision. They were too old to be tip-toeing around what they both wanted, needed, from each other. He stripped his shirt off as he walked, pushing his jeans down and stepping out of them as he eyed the soft light spilling out from underneath the bathroom door. 

He snuck in silently, making out Danneel’s profile in the frosted glass of the shower door, steam already rising in the air to cloud the bathroom. He opened the door and stepped into the spacious shower. Danneel turned at the noise, her wet hair sticking to her neck and back, trails of water running over her smooth skin as if to direct the exact path Jared’s tongue should be taking.

She gasped in surprise, but she didn’t sound or look displeased in the least. He moved into her space, pushing her up against the tile and dipping his head to lick a path up her neck. Her skin was warm and salty and she shuddered around him.

He whispered in her ear, his voice rough with need, “I can’t wait. I tried to wait, I thought about leaving, but it’s been so long.”

Her breath hitched as he lifted her so that her hips were tight around his waist and she was pressed up against the wall, “It’s ok… god, it’s more than ok. “

She ran her fingers through his dampened hair, her nails trailed down the back of his neck and his hips twitched against her as she spoke, “just take what you need.”

He stilled, panting as the hot water inflamed his already hot skin. There was a battle raging within him, his absolute need warring with his need to be gentle with her, “I don’t want to use you, like you said _he_ did.”

Danneel heard Jared’s whispered words and knew she had made a good choice, Vampire he may be but Jared Padalecki had a good heart.

She grabbed his chin and pulled his head up to look at her, “hey, no, it’s fine. Jared, look, I still don’t know a lot about you. But, I can sense enough to know that you could never care so little about me as a person, as a Giver, that anything you did with me could be considered using me, ok?”

He didn’t answer her verbally just brought one hand up from her waist to grip the back of her neck and pushed their lips together in a scorching kiss. He pressed his lips into hers, moving his head back and forth as he varied the pressure and adjusted his kissing style to match her tempo. Danneel felt a little thrill shiver up her spine, fuck, she loved a guy who could take notice. Jared nibbled on her bottom lip and swiped his tongue across the bite to sooth it. 

She opened her mouth and tilted her head to deepen the kiss and he immediately dipped his tongue in to explore and taste. They battled together for a minute, tongues searching and tangling while hands gripped and explored. Danneel could feel how hard he was, trapped between their stomachs. She had seen when he’d stepped into the shower just how big he was, tall and broad and muscled… and proportioned. 

She rocked her hips forward and tightened her legs around his waist, clinching her thighs until he moaned into her mouth. His hands burned hot on her skin where they touched her hips and neck, one moving to cup her breast and squeeze. She arched up into his body, their wet skin slipping together and the ache between her legs became unbearable. Sex with Chad had never been this satisfying; she had been too turned off by his personality to enjoy what they did beyond a physical level. 

But since the moment she and Jared had squared off in that alley tonight this electricity had been zinging between them. She didn’t feel like she had just really met him for the first time, or that they had rushed into sex. Plus, she could be dead this time tomorrow and being immortal meant life was way too long to even try to think long term, you’d be planning forever.

Danneel’s breath caught in her throat and she gave a choked sob as Jared’s fangs descended and he bent his head to scrape over the pulse point in her neck. She gripped his arms, “ok, now… I need you now.”

He didn’t hesitate, just lifted her up by the waist and slid her back down guiding himself into her body. He was large, she had known that, and her hips stretched around the intrusion as her body adjusted to him. She threw her head back and cried out as he pulled out and thrust back in.

Jared gritted his teeth, his fangs biting into the soft skin of his lip. Have mercy, she was hot and tight, and it had been a while since he had felt another person’s body gripping his own so intimately. He almost sobbed as Danneel’s tight heat fluttered around his cock. He tried to stay still and give her time to adjust, but he couldn’t seem to stop the rocking motion his hips were already making. 

He tightened his hold on her ass and lifted her higher against the shower wall to thrust up into her again and again as he lost the battle to be gentle. A moment later Jared had to chuckle over the fact that he had been worried about being gentle with her as he felt her nails cut into his shoulders and her heels dig into his lower back. She urged him forward with her body as she thrust herself down onto his cock, her breast pressed into his chest as she arched towards him. 

Words tumbled from her mouth, “yes… please… more.” 

He answered with his own mantra, “hot… tight… need.” 

He could feel himself getting closer with every thrust and he began to hear the rush of her blood where it moved under her delicate skin. He felt her hips slam down to meet his upward thrust and she leaned in to kiss him, she must be close. He watched as she pulled back, one hand lifting off his shoulder to move her wet hair back and away from her neck.

Danneel could feel the hot, tight feeling in her stomach and chest, moving to pool lower as the burn in her thighs started sending shock waves throughout her lower body. She was on the edge, in need of just a little push. She moved her hair so that the entire right side of her throat was exposed.

She smiled up at him, “you don’t have to worry about breaking me darling,” she said breathlessly, “you can mix business with pleasure again.”

Jared smiled at her, flashing his fangs before he leaned in to lick at her jugular. Their hips were still rocking together when he sank his teeth into her neck and every muscle in her body clenched. Jared was biting her like she was a gift, a painstakingly prepared meal, not like he owned her or had the right to take what she offered. His fangs slid in painful at first, and she adjusted, allowed the pleasure to wash over her as he began to suck in mouthfuls of the red liquid. 

He continued to cradle her head and hip in his big hands with surprising gentleness as he fed, rocking into her as they both spiraled higher. She had a fleeting thought that this is what it was like to be cherished. Then her orgasm hit her, taking her by surprise as it surged up within her like a wave crashing into the shore. She screamed as her nerve endings sizzled and her lower body contracted, squeezing as her hips continued to thrust, helping her ride the wave. 

Jared felt Danneel cum as her body spasmed around his. Her legs tightened around his hips as her thrusts became more erratic. Her loud cries in his ear drove him over the edge; he had almost forgotten what it felt like to give pleasure to someone. Sex had always meant more to him than just his pleasure; it had been about sharing the experience with the other person and making sure that they enjoyed it also. He knew that not all Vampires felt that way and he wondered again about Danneel’s companion. 

He continued to drink as he thrust up once more, growling against her throat where he was still licked slowly at the wound that would heal soon, erased by Danneel’s own magic. His body stilled suddenly as he emptied himself into her. He continued to make shallow thrust as his body kept going, pleasure rising and falling with the overwhelming sensations he hadn’t felt with another person in three years.

Jared tried not to tremble as he started coming down from his orgasm, but three years was an awful long time without sex. It was like his body had been cold for three long years and he was finally warm… raw and dazed, but very warm. 

She could still feel where Jared was drinking from her and her breast started to tingle. She felt dizzy with blood loss and her post-orgasm bliss, so she allowed Jared to manhandle her under the spray to wash off. He dried her as she wrung out her hair and then they both stumbled to the large bed in the room, Jared having the foresight to close the drapes against the morning sun due to rise soon. 

Danneel snuggled into the surprisingly soft sheets and waited for him to come join her. He slid in and immediately pulled her close to his body, nuzzling her hair and neck. She had assumed that after the amazing sex and feeding, and with the dawn approaching, he would fall asleep right away. But Jared ran his hands every where he could reach, as if memorizing the feel of her skin, mapping out the contours of her body.

“When we wake up, we’re going to have to talk about some of the things I’ve been doing for the past few years,” he said.

She nodded, “Does it have to do with The Council?”

He stroked her thighs, hips, and stomach in soothing motions, “Yeah, it does… but it can wait.”

She felt him move around until he seemed satisfied in his position and then he placed his left hand on her left breast, gently cupping it before sighing and stilling.

Just as she was about to drift off with the warmth of him behind her, she heard him whisper sheepishly, “This is ok, right? You don’t mind this position?”

Danneel laughed that even after the shower he would think to ask if holding her breast to fall asleep was too much for her. She brought her hand up to rest on top of his, “s’fine.”

Danneel closed her eyes as sleep tugged her down into unconsciousness. If she woke up later to his finger between her legs, well, she wouldn’t mind that either.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

It turns out that they _both_ managed to sleep the entire day, not waking until the sun was going down, a late day golden haze fading from the edge of the curtains when Danneel opened her eyes. Jared was awake beside her, disentangling himself from her to lean over and flip the lamp beside the bed on so that a soft glow filled the dark room.

Jared wrapped a strand of her hair around his finger as they both lay quietly for a minute beside on another, lost in thought. 

When Jared spoke it startled Danneel as it broke through the silence of the room, “I think The Council is killing mortals.”

Danneel questioned him, “You _think_?”

Jared shook his head, to let out a heavy breath, “I know. I know that The Council is killing humans, but I haven’t figured out why. I need to investigate further into each instance.”

Danneel sat up, trying to get where she wouldn’t have to look up at him so much, “Whata’ya mean, investigate? You want to investigate the same system we’re running from? How? We’ll get caught!”

Jared shook her shoulders a bit, “Hey, hey, calm down, Danneel. I didn’t mean directly. I just meant we should look into the murders or whatever, I’m pretty sure they’re murders. I just…” he frowned, “if The Council is hurting humans then we need to know about it.”

Danneel shrugged, “Why? What can the two of us possibly do to stop The Council?”

Jared shrugged, flinging himself back onto the bed to lie beside her as she too lay back down, “I don’t know. We need more resources. We need more help.”

Danneel thought for a second, “I think I know a guy who can point us in the right direction, or at least maybe knows someone who can.”

Danneel turned her head to smile at him, “In fact, I’m pretty sure you’ll remember him… I know he remembers you.”

Jared looked confused, “It scares me when I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Danneel laughed, “The guy who gave me my blood transfusion, I think he gave you yours too. He’s in the black market and, like I said, I think he could help.”

“If he transfused your blood than we run a risk going back to his place,” Jared reached a hand up to brush the hair out of his eyes, “hell, we run a risk going into London.”

Danneel nodded, stretching out her muscles like a cat as Jared watched her, “Yeah, but it’s got to be worth it to get dirt on The Council, even if we’re not sure how to utilize it yet.”

Jared shook his head, “A second ago you were freakin’ out on me.”

“Yeah, well, a second ago you’re idea didn’t have secret mission written on it… conspiracies are way cool.”

Jared leaned over to kiss her, his tongue slipping slowly into her mouth. His body, his scent, his presence surrounded her like a morning mist- heavy, thick, overwhelming, yet beautiful and shiver-inducing. Their tongues were sharing space in her mouth while their hands roamed over skin, covered and kneaded sleepy muscles.

Jared suddenly pulled away, an idea springing to his mind, “Why don’t we just ask your father for help?”

Danneel’s brain was still a little slow on the uptake and it took her a minute to comprehend what Jared had said, “What?”

Jared repeated, “Your father, he helped you to get out right? Can he help us?”

Danneel gave him a funny look for a second, her voice was slow when she finally spoke, “Jared, my father’s dead.”

Jared flinched away from her for a second, a crease forming between his eyes brows, “I didn’t know. When? How?”

Danneel tried to stamp down the pain that threatened to overwhelm her. She had been careless to assume that Jared would know. He hadn’t been in any position to know since the night he escaped with his life. The same night her father lost his.

Danneel sat up, her voice soft, “He died three years ago in a fire that broke out in one of the apartments in The Palace. The same night you escaped.”

He looked startled and confused, so Danneel asked slowly, “Jared, what do you remember about the night The Council tried to have you arrested?”

Jared shook his head, “I was reading, in my apartment. Kerr had said he was going out with some friends. He’d been gone for a few hours when I heard a knock on the door. I remember thinking that no one ever called on me or Kerr at that time of night and wondering who it could be. I was shocked to see your father standing on the other side of door.”

Jared closed his eyes, trying to remember, “He was agitated, and he had a bag that he tossed at me. I think he kind of let himself in. He closed the door, speaking quickly, things I didn’t understand. I don’t know how many times he had to tell me about Kerr’s betrayal, The Council’s plans to execute me, or about what was in the bag and what I needed to do so that I could get away.”

Jared’s face was tense with memories, “I just remember him giving me directions about how to get out of The Palace and outta London without being detected. I yelled at him that he was crazy, that The Council didn’t execute people, the _he was_ The Council…”

Danneel frowned, “What did he say?”

Jared had just the hint of a smile around his mouth for a second, “he said, ‘No, I’m The Resistance.’”

Danneel laughed, but her eyes were watery and her voice shook, “That sounds like him.”

Jared slid his fingers through her hair, “Danneel, what happened after I left?”

Danneel blinked, trying to clear the tears, “Um, The Council showed up to arrest you- or a select few of them and their Hitters anyway. They found my father there and you gone, they had been suspicious of his loyalty for a while by that point.”

Her voice shook again, “I can’t prove any of this, it’s just speculation. But they must have used silver to incapacitate him somehow, and then they set fire to your apartment. The official story was that my father had gone ahead of The Council to try and reason with you about your behavior, but you killed him and ran.”

Jared sat up straight, “They blamed me for his death?”

Danneel nodded, “They said you set the fire to destroy The Palace. They managed to put the fire out, but not in time supposedly to save my father.”

Jared reached out as if to touch her shoulder, but then pulled back, “I’m sorry, you must hate me?”

Danneel shook her head, “No, no, Jared, I don’t blame you… it was The Council, it’s always The Council! I didn’t even really know you back then and I _knew_ you hadn’t killed him.”

Jared scrubbed at his face with his hand, “How come you weren’t suspected by them as his daughter?”

Danneel gave a humorless laugh, “Oh, I think I was until a few months later when I got assigned to Chad and I accepted it without so much as a mutinous whisper. They figured I was on the straight and narrow then.”

“And you didn’t even think for a second that The Council’s version of things was true? Did your father share any of his fear about The Council being corrupt with you?”

Danneel shook her head, “Not too much, I think he was trying to protect me. But, I knew enough to not just mentally fall in line like everyone else. That night, as he was leaving, he told me he had a meeting with The Council that might run late. He kissed me on the forehead,” Danneel’s voice cracked a bit, and her words became thicker, “and said that he loved me and that I should always try to see things the way they really were, not just the way they were presented to me.”

Danneel now had tears rolling down her face, “I just thought he was quoting the newest philosophy book he was reading, he liked to quote passages out of them for me… but he was warning me- always warning me- of what was to come.”

Jared reached out to fold Danneel’s smaller frame into his arms, attempting to shield her as she cried. He was angry at himself that he couldn’t protect Danneel from this kind of pain. Wasn’t that what a Vampire was supposed to do? Protect their Giver? Yet, Danneel was experiencing the most brutal of all pains- the loss of someone she loved- and all Jared could do was rock her as she cried into his chest. They had been together for a little over 12 hours now and he was already failing at his end of the bargain. 

This was The Council’s fault. It always came full circle back to them. They blazed a path of repression and pain in their quest for absolute control. Jared was going to stop them somehow, someday. He and Danneel were going to start small and just keep trying until every individual in both their races saw The Council for what they really were.

 

[Chapter Three](http://silver-slashes.livejournal.com/6934.html#cutid1)


	5. Your Taste is Like the Wind on My Tongue

  


 

**Chapter Three**

_8 Months Later_

Jensen Ackles really didn’t want to die.

He prided himself on keeping his head down and his nose clean. It had helped him excel in the service, it had gotten him through graduate school, and it had launched him to the top of his company. He was head of marketing at one of New York’s biggest marketing firm. The executives on the top board had just reviewed him and congratulated him on good work. They had hinted that in just a few short years he could be joining their esteemed ranks. 

This, and the fact that he hadn’t gotten laid in over 6 months, all culminated in him really not wanting to die. So when he had seen some short, angry looking hard-ass following behind him on his way home from work he had made a beeline for the nearest public restaurant. He didn’t freak, he didn’t make a break for it, and he didn’t give any indicators that the guy sent big red flags up in Jensen’s mind. 

He recognized him from earlier in the week; first he’d seen him on the metro, then he’d catch a glimpse of him outside the gym, and later across the street from the coffee shop that Jensen went to every morning. Maybe any normal person wouldn’t have noticed anything, but working in the military could make you a bit more observant and maybe just a little paranoid. This guy was tailing him and he had no idea why.

Why would anyone want to follow him? Why would anyone want to kidnap him? Why would anyone want to kill him? He didn’t even have his damn gun with him; he kept it in the drawer beside his bed in the event of a home invasion. To be sure this guy wouldn’t try to kill him in a public place? But how was he going to get home, alone, in New York City, in the dark, with this guy on his heels?

The guy came in behind Jensen, didn’t look his way, and grabbed a booth in the back of the restaurant. Jensen kept an eye on him all through dinner. Aside from some serious flirting with the trashy waitress and over-hearing that the guys name was Chris, Jensen didn’t observe much. The guy ate, paid, and left. Maybe Jensen really was being paranoid?

He waited another 10 minutes for the guy to clear out of the area before getting up and heading out himself. He had promised to relax this weekend, no taking his computer or his work files home with him, in celebration of the job well done. Katie, his bubbly secretary, had insisted. The temperature had dropped since he entered the restaurant and he began to button up his coat as he walked. 

Suddenly a hand reached out from behind him, gripping his shoulders and pulling him backwards into a poorly light alley way. Jensen felt his center of balance tip backwards and spin into a fall, his fist swung around and connected into the side of whoever had grabbed him. He heard a muffled curse as the body in front of him side-stepped away from his impact and he went crashing to the ground.

Jensen rolled and sprang up, turning on whoever was behind him. It was the guy that had been tailing him, Chris or whatever. He had about three other thugs with him but none of them moved to attack. 

Jensen adjusted his coat trying to look put-upon instead of afraid; one of the first rules you learn as a solider: show no fear, “What’da you want?”

The guy smiled menacingly, “Well, we’re gonna make it look like a simple mugging gone badly.”

The guy shrugged and continued, “You know, you were walking home alone and someone tried to take your wallet. A big tough ex-army guy like yourself, you fight back, guy pulls a gun on you… end of story.”

Jensen smiled, “Or you know, you could just take my wallet and we can call it a night. I may look like a, um, big tough ex-army guy, but I don’t think I can take all four of you.”

Chris laughed and it sounded dangerous, “Don’t you get it? Robbing you ain’t the point, killing you is.”

Jensen thought about calling for help, but then thought about how futile that would be… this was New York for God-sakes. 

He was pretty sure that, since it had been years since his last bar fight and even longer since he had used martial arts skills in combat, this was a losing fight. But he wasn’t going to die without a fight, even if it was four to one. Even if they happened to have guns. As if on cue Chris pulled a .45 from his coat pocket.

Chris flicked the safety off, “Ok boys, let’s rough him up a little, make it look like he resisted, and then I’ll just shoot him.”

Jensen looked from the gun to the three dudes advancing on him and he decided that, gun or no gun, these guys wanted more than his wallet and he was going to take down at least one of them before Chris pulled the trigger. 

Jensen felt his skin tighten and his nerve endings start to itch, “If you’re just going to kill me, why even let me put up a fight.”

Fear was creeping up on him, stinging the back of his neck as Chris smiled, “Because you’re the only target we’ve had in a long time that’s even goin’ try to fight back, and that’s where all the fun is.”

The first guy took a swing at Jensen’s left side but he danced away and gave a parting kick to the guy’s ribcage. He heard a satisfying snap and the guy hissed and stumbled back, clutching his side. The second guy rushed him low, aiming to upper cut him in his stomach but Jensen got in a solid hook to the side of the guys head before he got the breath knocked out of him. 

The third thug tried to come around from the side to catch Jensen off guard. He was still engaged with the other guy who had retreated only to step back in with a forward jab that cut open Jensen’s lip. He landed a solid hit to the dude’s chest before swinging around suddenly and catching the guy, who thought he was being sneaky, on the jaw. He heard it dislocate with a sickening click as the guy cursed and stepped back. 

Each asshole he had put down though seemed to only need a few moments to shake-off what would normally be extremely painful injuries. Jensen was starting to feel his age for the first time since his small panic attack at turning thirty. What were these guys, super human? He was about to fight his way into round two as the guys regrouped and started in on him again, but everyone froze at the sound of a gun cocking. 

Jensen looked to see the leader aiming at his head, “You know, I really hate guns, but you just can’t make a death look appropriately modern if you use a long sword, so…”

Jensen flinched at the sound of the shot; his whole body reacted to the expectation of pain, or instant death. Instead, before he could really process what was happening a dark figure was dropping down in front of him. A tall man literally fell from the sky and into the bullet’s trajectory, nailing the guy in the chest as he landed on his feet. 

Jensen was pretty sure that if he had been in that guys place he would be dead, if not from the fall then from the bullet. But this man, with the broad shoulders and dark hair which so far was all Jensen could see from the back, simply rolled his shoulders and said, “That stung.”

Before he could even call a _What the Fuck_ moment, he caught another movement out of the corner of his eye as a woman sauntered up to the group from deeper in the alley. In the dim light all Jensen could see was that she was medium height with sexy red hair and she was carrying a silver sword in her right hand.

The leader, Chris, looked momentarily stunned as she addressed him, “You’re right Chris, no one appreciates a good sword fight these days.”

The leader of the mob group sneered, “Padalecki. Harris. Funny how I thought that being on the run meant, you know, not actively seeking out your enemies.”

Jared smiled, “well, you know how Danni and I like to go against the natural order.”

Chris looked from Danneel to Jared as his henchmen stood frozen in place without orders, “Oh, so it’s Danni now? Chad will be interested to know that his Giver is giving to another.”

Danneel gritted her teeth, “I give to whomever I choose to Chris. Jared and I have an understanding… as in he understands I’m a fucking living being with feelings. Chad only understands himself, and trust me when I say that there’s very little there to comprehend.”

Jared held his hands up, “Hey look, we’re just going to take your target here off your hands, ok? You guys can go about your way, that way we don’t have to hurt you.”

Chris laughed, “Hurt us? Oh, that’s good. How about I take you back to The Council? I like that better.”

Danneel chuckled, “Chris, do you really think that you can take us? I mean even with just Jared and I fighting, the four to two ratio would hardly be fair to you. And to be honest it looked like this human was doing a pretty decent job beating the shit outta your boys here.”

Chris cracked his knuckles, “Get’em, but leave the girl to me… we have unfinished business.”

The other three men converged on Jared and Jensen as Chris took off running at Danneel. She took a stance to fight him head on, but he jumped and flipped over her, making her spin to face him. Jensen tried to comprehend how someone could leap that high, but then his attention was diverted to the guy advancing on him. This was the guy whose ribs he’d broken.

He smiled at his assailant, “Come on now, don’t make me break your other side.”

The guy just shrugged, “They’ll heal.”

Jensen thought that was an odd way of staring down a painful and possibly life threatening injury, but whatever. He lunged at the guy, aiming a left hook at the side of his neck. He was still locked in with the guy, who seemed much stronger than the average man, when he saw one of the others break apart from fighting Jared and advance on Danneel where she and Chris were still at a standoff. Apparently this guy hadn’t been listening when Chris had called dibs.

“Behind you!” Jensen shouted at Danni, or whatever her name was, as he brought a knee up into his guy’s groin.

He watched as she rolled her wrist to swing the sword around and under her arms, thrusting backwards and into the guy’s stomach without ever taking her eyes off Chris. She pulled the sword from the dudes gut with a squelching sound and he collapsed on the pavement.

She laughed, patronizing Chris, “When are you going to get that I’m not some stupid little girl Chris?” She smiled, “tell me, how’s your neck?”

He growled at her, his eyes narrowing, “I wonder how tough you are when you’re not hiding behind those silver toys of yours?”

Her smile widened, “Well, you know what they say: the toys make the woman.”

“All that bravado isn’t going to help you Danneel, when you’re standing before The Council and they sign your death warrant.”

Danneel didn’t even blink as he threatened her, “You know Chris, you are one angry little man.”

He shouted at her, “That’s because you’re infuriating.”

She spun the sword in her hand, “Hello, I’m a woman.”

He charged her, ducking to avoid her first swing and punching her in the face. She moved with the punch, pain blossoming in her face and lip, using the backward momentum he had given her to spin around to the left. The sword came around with her and he was caught off guard, he expected her to fall back in pain. The side of the sword sliced into his side as she stepped back and away from him. She licked her lips, tasting blood.

He looked back to where one of his guys was locked in combat with Jensen, rolling on the ground, both trying to get the upper hand. One was passed out and healing at Danneel’s feet. The last one was being beat to a bloody pulp up against the wall where Jared is held him. Chris clutched his side, felt the burn where the silver touched him. His strength was ebbing.

He backed away from Danneel, “this isn’t over.”

He turned to run down the alley where it connected to another street. Danneel moved to pursue him, but she heard a muffled curse from behind her. She turned to see that the Ackles fellow had put up one hell of a fight, but was slowly losing to the Hitter that was simply stronger than him thanks to magic.

She stepped over the Hitter underneath her feet and kicked out at the one currently bent over the guy she was supposed to be saving, strangling the life out of him. He didn’t see her approaching as she kicked out, knocking him in the shoulder with her boot. Before he could regain his balance she stepped over Jensen and stabbed down with her sword, watching as the silver blade disappeared into the guy’s chest and he stopped moving.

She twirled the sword up and around, sheathing it in the scabbard on her back. She held out a hand to the guy lying on the street in a, now crumpled and filthy, suit, “Need a hand up?”

Jensen touched his hands to his chest as if to make sure he was still alive and then looked up at the hand and the woman behind it. He could see now that she had greenish-brown eyes that looked yellow in the dim light coming from the street lamp glow at the mouth of the alley. 

He held a hand up to her as he smiled, “If I’d known that New York City actually had hot superheroes roaming the streets at night, I’d have gotten mugged way sooner than this.”

She snorted, yanking him up with greater ease of strength then he would have credited her with, “You must be hurting for a lay if you’d resort to getting mugged to pick-up chicks.”

Jensen let the sting sink in as he turned to watch her go over to her friend, the really tall one. Jensen did a double take getting a good, slow look at him for the first time. Damn, did men look like that outside of GQ magazine? This guy was, was, well he was beyond words. He had sharp cheek bones, smooth skin, full lips, and gorgeous hair. Not to mention that he was taller than Jensen, which, yeah, back when Jensen had liked guys in college, tall guys definitely did it for him. 

She pointed back the way Chris had run and gestured to all the men bleeding on the ground, “They weren’t supposed to see us! They were never supposed to see us! Especially Chris!”

Jared crossed his arms, “Well fuck, it’s not our fault they jumped him early! They usually do more recon to figure out the optimum way to make it look as random as possible so that no one suspects assassination.”

He pointed at Jensen, “If he hadn’t been so obvious to the fact that he was on to Chris following him…,” he shrugged, “we had to act and we made a choice to intervene.”

“Oh, so this is my fault?! Wait, what’s my fault?” Jensen was trying to follow whatever the hell it was they were talking about but his head hurt.

Danneel cut in, still talking to Jared, “I remember the conversation, thank you very much, and I recall that there wasn’t much of a choice.”

She gestured wildly in Jensen’s direction, “I said, let’s just let this one go. Sure, it’s tragic, but we can’t risk being seen. And then you said, we can’t let him die. And I said, we’d be risking everything for one human. And then you said, he’s my mate! And then I said, well shit. And then you fucking jumped over the roof and right into the middle of everything!”

Jared threw his hands up in the air, “Well, what was I supposed to do? Do you even remember every conversation we’ve had since we met? He’s _it_ , he’s _him_. I can’t _change_ that!”

She sighed, bringing her hands up to cover her eyes in the universal female signal of frustration, “I know, ok, I _know_. But, we are so screwed. They know it’s us. They might not be able to track us, but they fuckin’ know.”

Jensen cleared his throat, “Well, it’s been real and it’s been fun, but it hasn’t been real fun. Thanks for saving my ass and all.”

He stood awkwardly and watched them stare at him before he just turned to make his way out of the alley and home.

The tall guys voice cut through the air, “Where do you think you’re going Jensen? You can’t go back to your apartment; you have to come with us.”

Jensen swung back around, his army paranoia kicking in again, “First of all, how the hell do you know my name? Second of all, I don’t have to go anywhere with you two. I have no idea what you’re talking about or where you learned to fight like that or how you even know the guys that jumped me…”

Danneel stepped forward, her voice a bit softer then it had been earlier, “Look, we’ve got some of your things already, everything we could find and easily pack in your apartment…”

He hissed, “You were in my apartment?” 

Jared raised an eyebrow, “Well, yeah, how else were we suppose to get your stuff for you?”

Danneel took another step forward, “Look, Mr. Ackles, Jensen, I’m Danneel Harris,” she gestured to her companion, “this is Jared Padalecki.”

She took another step forward, “It’s a long story, but you aren’t safe here anymore, you have to come with us so we can protect you. Just trust us for a little bit and we promise we’ll try to explain everything.”

Jared took a step closer also, “We did save your life and all, so you could at least hear us out.”

Jensen really just wanted to go to sleep in his own bed. On the other hand, they did save his life, “Say I did go with you, where would we be going?”

Danneel smiled, “To Edinburgh.”

Jensen blinked a few times, “As in Scotland?”

She nodded, “Yeah, look, just ride with us to the airport and if you don’t believe most of the story by the time we get there then you don’t have to get on the plane.”

Jensen looked from one of them to the other. Why couldn’t he ride to the airport with two complete strangers and listen to some weird story they seemed determined to make him believe? He had just almost died in an alley on the way home from work, so really his night could only get better.

He shrugged, “Ok, how are we getting to the airport?”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jensen stared at the folder in his hands. The evidence was right here in front of him, there was no ignoring it, no pretending that his life could go back to normal. When he had been in the army he had entertained making a career out of Special Ops, going so far under that he never surfaced again. Now, here was his real life chance to erase who he was and make a new life for himself. Except his life was at stake if he messed it up and it wasn’t nearly as thrilling as he had imagined it to be at 21. 

He was actually quite nauseous just thinking about it. His company had tried to have him professionally assassinated. How was he even important enough to be assassinated? God, it didn’t make any sense. Except it did make sense, thought Jensen, because that Chris guy had been trailing him all week. And he had known about Jensen’s military back ground. Why him? Because he was an easy target? Because he was alone with no family and few close friends?

 Something about him had made him the prime choice for his companies insane, under the table scheme to collect insurance money from dead employees. Jared had explained it to him in the car on the way to the airport. 

“It starts out legal enough. A company can take out insurance policies on their employees based on how valuable they are to the company. The more revenue the employee creates for the company, the more valuable they’re considered. So, really, you should look at it as a compliment, you’re just too good at what you do.”

Jared had smiled, but Jensen had just grimaced at the attempt to lighten the mood so Jared had continued, “anyway, legally, the company doesn’t have to notify you of the policy and in the event of your death, while you’re employed with them, they collect a lot of money.”

Danneel shrugged, “it’s sleazy and wrong, but it’s all perfectly legal, and not many people know about it. Your board of directors has probably insured a lot of people in the company.”

“So, what makes it illegal?” Jensen looked out the window and then back at the two of them.

Jared looked warily back at him, “Well, as you can imagine, companies who may find themselves suddenly strapped for cash began to contemplate all the money that would come their way if an employee or two, that happened to be insured, were to die.”

He looked over to Danneel as if asking her to help him with the right words, “So, they go under the table and onto the black market. A few untraceable bank accounts, a few money wires, a few scrambled encryption emails later and these same board members have managed to hire contract assassins to help their employees over the edge, if you know what I mean?”

Danneel kept her eyes on the road as she drove, muttering about driving on the wrong side of the road, “But they make it look like an accident. The assassins get their money, the company gets their insurance pay out, and everybody’s happy.”

Jensen stared at her until she corrected, “Well, obviously not everybody.”

The story in the car had been intriguing, and the evidence compelling. So, here he was on a plane to Scotland sitting between two people he didn’t know. For all he knew this could be an elaborate hoax but heaven knows why they were taking him, if not to save his life. 

Either he risked staying behind and dying due to some wacked out corporate conspiracy, or he went with them and risked dying at the hands of two extremely good looking possible psychopaths. Either way, the deck was stacked and he was holding a losing hand. 

He spent most of the plane flight pouring over the emails, bank statements, and other records that were in the file Jared had given him. Everything looked legit; his company had really taken out an insurance policy on his life for a lot of money.

The rest of the flight he spent contemplating the tension he felt rolling off of Jared in waves and how the man seemed to jerk every time any part of his body came into contact with any part of Jensen’s. He also couldn’t understand the sympathetic looks that Danneel kept shooting at Jared when she thought Jensen wasn’t looking.

Were they together? What had that fight in the alley been about? How had Danneel learned to fight with a sword? Had Jared really jumped off the roof of a five story building and landed without a scratch? Surely Danneel had been using a metaphor? But Jensen had seen him drop down in front of him… and take a bullet in the chest! Hold on, he had completely forgotten about that!

Without thinking he whipped his head around to look at Jared, “You got shot!”

He said it a little too loud but the flight was mostly empty, since it was a red-eye trans-Atlantic flight, but Danneel shushed him anyway.

He lowered his voice, “You got shot, I know the bullet hit you as you fell. Why aren’t you dead or bleeding and in agony?”

Jared and Danneel shared a look and Jensen bristled, “And why do you keep looking at each other like you’re having a conversation in your mind?”

Jared put his hand on Jensen’s knee and then jerked it away like he had been burned, “Look, there’s a lot that Danneel and I are going to have to tell you due to,” he tried to choose his words carefully, “…due to certain circumstances that pertain only to you.”

Jensen looked at Danneel, “Does this have anything to do with the fact that all Jared had to do was look at the security lady and she suddenly had nothing to say about the huge sword in your carry-on bag?”

Danneel nodded, “It might.”

Jensen turned his head to look at Jared, “And does it have anything to do with the way you keep acting like I carry an electrical charge that shocks you every time you touch me?”

Jared looked away as if the pitch black night he saw out the window was the most interesting thing he’d ever seen, “It might.”

Jensen had been burning up with curiosity but he didn’t want to push the conversation in a confining, public venue so he let it rest. When they touched down in Edinburgh it was early morning and the sky was the usual grey overcast of damp clouds. Jared had thrown up the hood to his coat and put sunglasses on despite the lack of sun. Jensen just put it down to weirdness and declined to comment as they got their luggage.

Jared and Danneel led him to a car parked outside the airport with tinted windows, which Jared immediately dove into the back of as Danneel put their things in the trunk and motioned for Jensen to get into the passenger seat on the other side of the car. It had been a while since he had been to Europe and the steering wheel being on the other side of the car took some getting used to.

Jensen looked back at Jared trying to make himself small in the back seat, and wasn’t that funny, “where are we going?”

Danneel whipped out of the parking space and sped towards the exit, “We’re going to see some friends of ours. Or as they like to be called- the brains of the operation.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

It turns out that “the brains of the operation” actually lived with Danneel and Jared, in a huge house outside the city. Jensen hadn’t really considered till now that the vigilantes were wealthy, but he was probably actually pretty poor in comparison to these two… and he wasn’t hurting for funds.

When Danneel pulled up and a guy walked out to meet them, helping her with the bags, Jensen’s eyes widened, “You actually have a butler?!”

Danneel laughed, but the guy didn’t look amused. He looked Jensen up and down, “I’m not the butler. I’m the entertainment, if you know what I mean.”

It was only after Jensen’s jaw was on the ground and “the entertainment” was grinning like a loon that Jensen understood he was being had.

Danneel laughed, “This is Misha… he’s our tactical support.”

Misha held out a hand and Jensen took it cautiously, “Hi, Jensen, it’s good to see you alive and all. I hope the trip wasn’t too bad.”

Jensen took the guys hand, he had a firm grip which made Jensen like him a bit more, “Does everyone know my name?”

Danneel interrupted whatever Misha was going to say, “Look, I need you to go get Aldis and meet us in the briefing room, something’s come up. We have problems.”

Misha immediately turned serious, “Sure, do I need to get anything for Jared? Is he going to be able to stay awake through it?”

Danneel shut the trunk and looked into the window at Jared, slumped and asleep under a blanket in the back seat, “You just take Jensen with you and show him around. I’ll take care of Jared; I think he’ll be good for another hour or so if I get him something to eat.”

She looked meaningfully at Misha and he nodded before hustling Jensen into the spacious house, carrying the baggage and explaining what the briefing room was as he went.

Danneel woke Jared up and got him to his room upstairs before he collapsed back onto the bed, the tightly shut curtains giving him a reprieve. 

She threw herself onto the bed beside him, “Come on J, you need to feed so that we can have this conversation, get everything out there.”

Jared took an unnecessary breath, “I don’t want to do this right now. I don’t want to see the disbelief and the disgust in his eyes.”

Danneel slapped Jared’s arm, “Shut up, you don’t know how he’ll take it. Jared, this is a good thing. You found him, the odds of that are, well, the hardest part is over.”

“I wish I thought that.” He rolled over, burying his head in her chest, nuzzling the swell of her breasts where it disappeared into her sweater.

She felt his fangs descend to scrape against her flesh. His lips ghosted over her skin as his breath moistened and warmed her, her breathing became faster and shallower. Her breasts rose and fell with her breathing and Jared followed, licking a spot right above her left breast. His hands snuck under her body lifting her to him as his leg moved over hers to hold her down. Just as she was about to beg him to get on with it, he opened his mouth wide and bit down.

She gasped at the familiar rush of pleasure flooding her system. She could feel where his tongue moved against the wound to lap up the liquid he needed to live. She could give him that. But, soon Jensen would be the one giving, which was how it should be. But, she would miss this, she would miss Jared. She thought maybe she loved him, but it wasn’t a possessive love, it made her want to give him everything that made him happy. That was why she was going to make sure, before she left, that Jensen would stay. 

She sighed, “I’m going to miss this.”

Jared jerked his head up, “What’da’ya mean?”

She looked at him funny, “I mean, when I’m gone, I’m going to miss you.”

“Why are you leaving?”

Her eyebrows drew together, “Jared, are you that dense? You found your mate. You don’t need me anymore. I promised you I’d leave when that happened.”

Jared moved to sit up, looking down at her, “you don’t have to leave. I don’t want you to leave.”

She stared at him, “you can’t be serious? Jensen already thinks we’re together. Me sticking around isn’t going to dissuade him of that notion.” 

“He’s my mate Danneel, yeah, it’s a big deal, and I’d do anything for him. But you’re my Giver, the first one at least to treat me like a friend and not a sugar daddy.”

Danneel sat up to face him, “Jared, we stuck together because we’re good together and because we understand each other. We have similar ideas and agendas, but I can go it alone. I was doing it before you and I’ll still be doing it after you… I can take care of myself.”

He looked hurt, “So the past few months haven’t changed anything for you I guess. I thought maybe we’d become something more, that I’d become something more to you. But you weren’t joking about that whole independent, guard your heart thing.”

She stood and crossed her arms, trying not to raise her voice, “That’s neither fair, nor true, and you know it.”

She ran a hand through her long hair, pulling it away from her face as she tried to explain, “Jared, I love you, more than I should, I think. But it’s not the kind of love that makes me want to fight. It’s the kind that makes me want to walk away. If you try to keep both me and Jensen, you may end up losing him and I’m not willing to let you do that.”

Jared scrubbed at his face, it was too bright outside to be thinking this hard, “If I can get him to agree to you staying, will you stay?”

She gave him a thin smile, stepping over to stand between his legs where he sat on the bed, “Maybe,” she said.

He smiled, grabbing her hips and laying his head against her stomach, “At least you’re being honest with me.”

She ran her fingers through his hair, “I’ve always been honest with you.”

He took a deep breath, her familiar scent filling his head. His finger tips bit into her skin as if he could hold her tight enough to keep her there, “I love you too,” he whispered.

She smiled for real at that, “But you’ll never love me like you love him,” it wasn’t a question.

Jared looked up at her, “Love is infinite. I love you differently than I love him, and the overwhelming connection of the bond that ties me to him doesn’t diminish what I’ve shared with you.”

She ran a finger down the bridge of his nose, “Jared Padalecki, you are a hopeless romantic and I hope that the world never changes you.”

He grimaced and looked away, “it’s tried.”

She thought about the tenderness and affection, the humor and goodness, he had shown to her over the past few months, “but you haven’t let it get to you yet.”

“So, will you stay?”

“If you can get that human, mortal man to consent to a ménage with a love struck, vigilante Vampire and an immortal, fiercely independent Healer… then, yeah, I’ll stay.”

“But, Jared, have you really thought this through? I mean, aren’t you possessive of your mate by nature? What happens when Jensen and I try to have sex? Can we have it without you?”

He gave her questions some thought, “As long as I claim him first, it won’t matter if the two of you choose to sleep together. I won’t allow him to go outside of our relationship, just like I wouldn’t expect you to, just like I would expect that you both would require the same faithfulness out of me.”

He stood up to follow Danneel out the door and down the stairs to the briefing room, “Do you find him attractive?”

She busted out laughing, “Do I find him attractive? You have to ask me that? Have you looked at the guy?”

She stopped and looked over her shoulder at Jared, “The minute you’re done with him, you let me know.”

Jared smiled, if he planned everything just right, and if Jensen was open-minded enough, he just might be able to keep the two best things that had ever happened to him. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jensen looked around as Misha moved into the room. Apparently, the briefing room was actually a library with a display wall of TV screens. There was a black guy sitting at one of the desks with headphones in, tapping his foot to the beat and typing quickly on a laptop.

Misha tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped, his head whipping around to glare at him, “Don’t scare a brother like that, I just almost killed you.”

Misha looked skeptical, “What, with the power of your mind?”

The guy stood up and took the laptop over to the conference table to one side of the room, he pointed at Misha as he set it down, “One day man, one day.”

Misha laughed but turned serious, “Look, Danneel has called a team meeting and it sounds serious. Both she and Jared look out of sorts.”

The guy looked at Misha and then over to Jensen, standing behind him, “Does it have anything to do with this guy?”

Jensen shrugged, “I was just almost beat to death and then shot for good measure because my company looked at me and saw dollar signs… how is that my fault?”

Jensen watched the dude look at Misha and then back at him, “Oh, oh, you’re Jensen Ackles. Um, sorry ‘bout that, I forgot about the newest mission we were running,” he pointed at Jensen, “I have things for you: passport, identification, credit cards, the works.”

He walked over to the desk he had been at and picked up a yellow envelope and handed it to Jensen, “You’re new name is Jake Gray.”

Jensen looked down at the package, “You created an identity for me?”

The guy nodded, “Yeah, I’m like the CIA, witness protection and all…” he shrugged, “except I’m better.”

Misha sighed, “Jensen this is Aldis Hodge. He’s our technology specialist. He’s in charge of, well, all the technology.”

Aldis smiled at Jensen, “Damn right I am, because these guys don’t know the difference between a mouse and a mother board.”

Misha narrowed his eyes, “I know my way around computers, thank you. I even figured out how to do the twittery thingy on the internet.”

Aldis crossed his arms as his eyes widened, “The twittery thingy?! I rest my case.”

Jensen had to ask, “Uh, are you guys together?”

Misha turned to look at him, a crease between his eyebrows, “You mean like, together, together?”

Jensen nodded.

Aldis looked at him, “Hell’naw.”

Misha turned to face Aldis trying to suppress a laugh, “Come ‘on, you totally want to have the sex with me.”

Aldis held up a hand, “Hold up, I want to what? Naw, bro, naw. I have a girlfriend.”

Misha looked skeptical and Jensen just looked form one to the other, “Sorry, I wasn’t implying anything I was just sayin’…”

“That they fight like an old married couple? Yeah, they do.” Danneel breezed into the room with Jared right behind her and Jensen didn’t know who to stare at first, they were both so hot.

Aldis pulled out his cell phone, “I have a girlfriend, she is real, and I’m going to call her right now.”

Misha grabbed the phone, “Ok, ok, put the phone down, we all believe that you’re not gay.”

Aldis sat down in one of the chairs at the table, “I don’t care that you think I’m gay, I just want you to believe I have a girlfriend.”

Jensen cleared his throat as he moved to sit down also, “Oh, I don’t think you’re gay.”

Misha handed the phone back to Aldis with a smile, “And by not gay, he means really super queer.”

They all sat down around the table, Misha and Aldis casting wary glances from Danneel and Jared and then back to one another. Jensen could feel the anticipation in the room but he couldn’t even begin to ascertain the source of it. He was in a strange country, in a strange house, with strange people. What was he doing here? Where was he going? Why was he trusting these people? They were clearly nuts!

Jared cleared his throat, “So, just so you’re up to speed, and so you don’t feel like we’re holding back information from you, we’re going to give you full disclosure.”

Jensen raised one eyebrow but stayed silent as Jared continued, “Please just hear us out, the entire story, no matter how,” he cleared his throat again, “strange and unbelievable it may seem.”

Jensen looked around the table at all of them, but every single one of them looked serious, “Ok, I’ll hear what you have to say.”

Jared nodded, “I’m a Vampire.”

Danneel sighed, “Way to rip the band-aid off Jared, really, awesome.”

Jared huffed and turned to face Danneel, “Would you like to tell the story?”

She let her elbow smack down onto the table, resting her chin in her hand, “No, no, s’fine, continue.”

Jared did, “I’m a Vampire. I became one a few hundred years ago when Vampires roamed the earth freely, in secret, but independent masters of themselves. Like all other races some of them were good and some of them weren’t so nice. Some of the things that modern culture attributes to Vampires are true; some of it is complete fiction. That’s not important. What is important is that for every Vampire there exists a soul mate, a light to their dark…”

Jensen took over, “… a yin to their yang. And the soul mate must accept the eternal bond with the Vampire so that the Vampire can live. In return the Vampire will love and protect their soul mate for eternity, giving of heart and of soul and of mind. The Vampire roams the earth in search of this one true mate, often never finding their other half and going mad with the hunt, eventually succumbing to the dawn.”

They all stared at Jensen, Jared finally spoke up, “Well, that’s not exactly it, but it’s close enough. How did you know all of that?”

Jensen shrugged, “Katie, my secretary, reads those trashy romance novels and sometimes she reads them to me out loud when she wants me to go home for the night and get some rest. She literally reads that sappy shit in a loud voice until I get into the elevator. The one I just quoted from is called _The Vampire’s Kiss_ , and according to Katie it is, ‘like the best supernatural love story ever like told’.”

Jared’s face fell a bit, “You don’t believe a word I’m saying?”

Jensen grinned, “No, but I promised I’d listen so please continue.”

Jared pressed on, determined to at least tell Jensen the whole story, “so, yes, each Vampire has a mate that they may or may not ever actually find. If they did find them often the mate was human and there were, um, complications with that. Humans are very fragile creatures and the Vampires sometimes accidentally killed the human mate during the change. Most of the time however, the Vampire doesn’t find their soul mate. Either way, the result is the same. A Vampire can live without its mate, forever if they chose to, but it’s painful.”

Jared looked around and then back at Jensen, “It’s like that old knife wound on your thigh. It twinges and pulls constantly but you push the pain away because it’s minor and you refuse to let it get the best of you. Some days you forget the scar is there and other days it aches till it’s almost unbearable. Deep wounds are like that, they heal on the outside but you never stop feeling it.”

Jared picked at a spot on the table. Real story or not, Jensen could tell that something about the story was personal to Jared. Maybe it was a metaphor?

Jensen started, “Wait a minute, how did you know about my…”

Jared grinned, “knife wound? I guessed. Not too many things it could be when a solider favors a leg in a fight like that.”

Jensen frowned, “I wasn’t favoring…”

Jared continued, “Most Vampires eventually went rogue, which means that without a companion at their side they lost their humanity, “Jared said, “they started killing people.”

Danneel covered Jared’s hand with her own so he would stop fidgeting; the guy was a ball of contained energy. She broke in, “That’s where the Givers come in.”

Jensen darted a glance at Misha and Aldis, but they looked quite serious. He turned his attention back to Danneel’s words, “The Giver’s were an ancient race descended from the magical and immortal Sidhe, or Fey. They lived in secret, underground, protected by strong magic for millennia. However, the time came when we, the race, found that maybe we should make an attempt to at least understand the world of humans evolving around us.”

“A pact was formed between 6 members of the race of Vampires and 6 members of the race of Givers and they called themselves The Council. The Council brought the races together under and Alliance, a set of rules to be followed for the continued prosperity of both races. The first law being the Law of Assignment: every Vampire was to be paired with a Giver for the sake of both parties. The Vampire would use their working knowledge of the modern world to assist and protect the Giver, while the Giver would use their immortality to provide blood to the Vampire.”

Jared broke back into Danneel’s part of the story, “It seemed perfect, much like the mortal idea of an arranged marriage. The Givers, while mostly remaining underground in The Palace, were given access and knowledge of the world above. The Vampires no longer had to search out their mates or feed off humans.”

Jensen shook his head, “most of the human race discovered a while ago that arranged marriages weren’t such a great idea when it came to health and happiness in a relationship.”

Danneel hit the table with her hand, “Exactly! But, The Council sold their idea so cleverly that everyone bought into it, and it actually does work on a functional level. It’s just that every single member of my race, of Jared’s race, is so brainwashed after centuries of this whole assignment shit, that they can’t see that it was just a short-term solution for a long-term problem.”

Jared nodded, “I was never happy with my Giver, he was selfish and I didn’t realize it until he betrayed me to The Council for having a desire to find my mate. These are thoughts deemed traitorous to The Council and,” Jared made air quotes, “the prosperity of the races.”

“So, I ran and went off-grid and then started looking for my soul mate. See, every Vampire, whether they realize it or not, needs their mate to feel complete. Even if the assignments between Vampires and Givers were happy ones. Even if you could choose each other based on compatibility like Danneel and I ended up doing…”

Danneel laughed, “I’d say that Jared and I ended up together because we are both the only fugitives of our society… lawlessness bonded us.”

Jared smiled, “The point is, even if the Vampire was happy with the Giver, that wouldn’t change the fact that their mate was out there waiting to be found… waiting to be claimed.”

Jared leaned into the table, “You see, what we’ve figured out is that a threesome would be the ultimate answer to the problem. If a Vampire had both a mate and a Giver then you have the best of both worlds. The soul mate completes the need for the bond and anchors the Vampire’s humanity. The Giver can use their immortality to relieve the mate of the duty to be a constant blood supply. That’s where The Council screwed up. It doesn’t have to be soul mate verses Giver. It can be soul mate and Giver.”

Jensen nodded, “Uh, sure, sure. But, um, what kinds of magic do Giver’s possess? What do they bring to the relationship other than the relative inability to die of blood loss?”

Danneel looked at Jared, afraid of how Jensen was processing the information and wary of his question, “Well, each Giver is born with one of three magical gifts: Hitters, Healers, and Seers. Hitters are born with strength and speed, they are the military of our race and you met a few of them already in that alley last night. Healers, like me, are born with the ability to heal sickness of both the body and mind. Studying and perfecting your art helps you to channel and utilize the gift more efficiently. And, Seers are born with the gift of sight- past, present, and future- they see what can be, not what will be, and therefore their visions are forever changing.”

Danneel ran her fingers through her hair and Jensen tried not to get distracted from the crazy story, “Studying a discipline you were not born with the innate ability for is against the laws of The Council. My father was a member of The Council but he was also a trained Hitter. He taught me in secret, so that I could be a Healer, but always able to defend myself.”

Jensen leaned back in his chair, “So, all this has what to do with people tryin’ to kill me?”

Jared gestured to everyone around the table, “We run an operation to find and relocate people like you, unfortunate bystanders caught in the crossfire of a corrupt system…”

Jensen grinned, “Is that what it says on your business card? Because that’s catchy.”

Jared had obviously decided to ignore his outbursts because he went on, “Danneel left The Palace, basically the origin and habitat of our society, a few months ago. She had reason to believe that The Council had been morally compromised…”

“… and, I might add,” Danneel said, “that the Vampire I was assigned to was a selfish, narcissistic asshat.”

Jared nodded as a smile played around his lips, “That too. Anyway, so she found me and we decided that as the only fugitives of our conditioned society we would stick together. We shared the same concern, that The Council was growing greedier at the detriment of the whole populace. I, personally, had done some research and thought I had a good guess at what they were up to.”

Danneel nodded towards Misha and Aldis, “So Jared and I went looking for Misha, who we already knew dabbled in the black market. He gave both of us a blood transfusion so we could go off the grid and The Council couldn’t use Seers to track us.”

Misha nodded, “Though at the time I thought they were druggies looking for a clean test, for a job or something. I got a lot of transfusion customers looking to get clean real quick. I didn’t know they were magical. Even though Jared told me up front that he was a Vampire, I didn’t believe him until later.”

“Right, so Danneel and I go to Misha to see if he can help us,” Jared points to Aldis, “and Misha introduces us to this guy.”

Danneel grinned at Aldis, “We mentioned the word immortal beings and conspiracy in the same sentence and he was all over it…” she said.

Aldis nodded, “It’s better than aliens, man.”

“I bought a house and Danni and I convinced them to move into here with us,” Jared gestured around, “and this became our base of operations. With a dealer and a hacker on our side, along with Danneel’s knowledge of The Council through her father’s work, we had enough to figure out their scheme.”

Jensen was interested in the story despite continuingly reminding himself that it wasn’t true. He leaned forward, “And?”

“Well, you’ve seen it firsthand… assassination,” Jared said, “which makes perfect sense because as a body of power with immortal, strong, lethally trained guards at their command, they definitely have the ability to kill a few people. It brings in great money. Not that they need it, but I guess once you have it, you want more…”

Danneel nodded, Jensen noticed her pat to Jared’s thigh turned into a caress and he didn’t know who to be more jealous of, “Once Jared and I knew the truth we couldn’t just standby. We started tracking down the targets before the assassination attempts, attempting to get them to come with us, to relocate. That’s the only way to run from The Council, you have to disappear.”

Jensen nodded, trying to gage which parts were true and which parts they perceived to be true, “But, if you’re on the run from this, um, council, then what the fuck did you let them see you for?”

Danneel looked at Jared then back to him, “Well, we usually grab the target before they get to them, but they jumped you ahead of time and we had to intervene to save you. Chris saw us and he will no doubt be telling The Council, if not already, that the group undermining their assassination services also happens to be the two traitors they sentenced to death.”

Jensen tried to think back to the fight he had witnessed without understanding last night in the alley when Danneel had been shouting at Jared. He narrowed his eyes at Danneel, “As I recall you didn’t think blowing your cover was worth saving me.”

Danneel sniffed and looked away from him, “I won’t pretend that I wasn’t weighing all the options. Until Jared took all the decisions out of my hands when he announced that…”

She stopped and looked from Jared and back to Jensen. Jensen motioned for her to continue, “Announced that?”

Jared smiled, but there was tightness around his eyes that hadn’t been there earlier, “I told her that you were my mate. I thought maybe, when we were getting the stuff out of your apartment, because everything I picked up smelled so good, so right. Your smell was so familiar. But, after seeing you in the alley, I knew.”

Danneel shrugged, “At that point, keeping you alive was the only thing that mattered.”

[Chapter Four](http://silver-slashes.livejournal.com/7226.html#cutid1)


	6. Your Taste is Like the Wind on My Tongue

  


 

**Chapter Four**

Jensen tried to be serious, “But, if you’re with Jared, which I’m assuming you are, then why would you want me alive?”

Danneel laughed, “Because I’m not like some other Giver’s, or other women for that matter. I can take care of myself, my father raised a self-sufficient daughter, and I don’t need a Vampire to protect me. Likewise, I’m emotionally intelligent enough to perceive that the bond Jared and I have created in the past few months, while sacred and intimate, is nothing compared to the bond between a Vampire and their true mate. You will make Jared happy, Jared will make you happy, and I can be happy on my own… that is all that matters.”

Jared reached out to wrap a lock of Danneel’s hair around his finger, “I have asked Danneel to stay and continue to be my Giver, to help you feel comfortable here, and to allow the two of you to maybe grow closer. I am selfish enough to want both of you in my life, but she has agreed to stay only if you are ok with it. I agree that whatever makes you more comfortable is best.”

Jared’s breath seemed to catch in his throat, and Jensen thought his eyes became sadder as he said, “I hope that you do chose to stay.”

Jensen’s mind was swirling with crazy stories and unbelievable claims. He really wanted to take a shower and go to bed. He rubbed at his chest, their seemed to be a pressure there he couldn’t shake. His nerves were rubbed raw. This whole thing was unbelievable. He couldn’t be bothered to date for however long and now a ‘Vampire’ and a ‘Giver’, want to shack up and play house. With two ridiculous side-kick, criminals for good measure… it was like some crazy sit-com.

He blew out a breath, “You want me to believe in conspiracy and assignation, fine. You want me to believe that my life has a price on it and I have to disappear, fine. You want me to follow you to a different continent, to a foreign country, to a huge house in the middle of nowhere, I’m here...”

Jensen scrubbed his face in irritation, “But now you’ve added a whole new crazy level to this already fucked up production of the Borne Identity on steroids.”

Danneel and Jared looked a bit confused, but Misha filled in for them, “It’s a movie.”

Danneel turned to look at Jared, obviously content to let him sooth the ruffled feathers, “Jensen, have you ever thought about getting married?”

Jensen blinked slowly, “Excuse me?”

Jared shrugged, “Marriage, have you ever considered it?”

Jensen shrugged in turn, “Um, sure, not all the time, but I used to, I guess.”

He heard Danneel mutter something about _typical of a mortal man_ , but Jared continued, “What did you think about?”

Jensen blushed a bit, “Well, I always thought that the person I married, or decided to live with or whatever…”

Danneel cut in, “Why do you say person?”

Jensen shrugged, “Because after college I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a man or a woman. I’ve been dating women for a few years now, but that’s because after I got my job and a corner office I just didn’t feel like having the big office coming-out awkwardness.”

Jensen wasn’t exactly proud that he had chosen his career at the price of dating whomever he loved, or that he’d thought he even had to choose. It was just like when he’d been in the army before college. 

But there it was, the ugly truth, he sighed, “Anyway, if I had to really think about it, I’d say that the institution of marriage means less to me then things like commitment, fidelity and love.”

Jared leaned forward in his chair towards Jensen’s side of the table, “That’s what I’m offering you,” he glanced over to Danneel, “what we’re offering you. It’s all those things that you hoped you’d find someday in another person, you just found it in two.”

“You don’t even know me, we haven’t dated, gone out to dinner,” Jensen gestured from them to himself, “you don’t know my favorite color, or my favorite food, and I don’t know anything about any of you.”

He slumped in his chair, “Except that you think you’re Vampires and magical healers, which only tells me that I’ve allowed myself to be kidnapped by crazy people.”

Misha shook his head, “We haven’t kidnapped you. We’ve given you a new life,” he pointed at the packet on the table, “it’s right there, you can leave whenever you want to.”

Aldis nodded, “I know that’s right. I’d also like to add for the record that I’m aware that I’m human.”

Danneel leaned towards him, matching Jared’s earlier gesture, “If you don’t believe that I’m a healer I can easily prove it to you.”

She held out her hand on the table, “Place your hand in mine.”

Jensen looked at her hand like it might shock him, but he tentatively reached out to place his hand within her own smaller one. Her skin was warm against his palm, smooth under his finger tips.

She closed her eyes taking a depth breath, “You have a tension headache, “she said.

Jensen looked nonplused, “I’m under stress and I haven’t eaten or slept in over 24 hours, of course I have a headache.”

She gripped his hand tighter and glared at him, “I wasn’t done.” 

She closed her eyes again, “You’re right rib is bruised, you have a cut on the back of your head, from the pavement probably, and you have an old wound that has been bothering you lately.” 

She winced, “Like Jared said, he must have noticed you limping when I didn’t.”

Jensen was sure that his mouth was hanging open, but he couldn’t help it. He reached up with his free hand to touch the back of his neck and hissed. Sure enough, he had a scrape there. He touched his finger tips to his right side and winced as they made contact with a fresh bruise. He hadn’t even noticed his injuries; the army taught you to ignore pain and his life since last night had been rather conducive to making him forget about his physical needs.

He tried to jerk his hand free of her grasp, but she held firm, “Wait, I’m going to heal you.”

Before he could say anything he felt a warm tingling sensation spreading up his arm from where his hand connected with hers. It tickled, like a warm breeze on wet skin and he tried to hold still as the sensation spread throughout his body, concentrated in the areas she had told him were injured. 

It wasn’t just that he felt her magic healing him; he could feel her presence moving along his skin. Her laughter and softness infused his body, like he was connected with her own mind and body. He felt her sense of self and independence like fire in his own veins. Invisible fingers danced over his skin, soothing and mending like the kindest of doctors.

Suddenly the feelings retreated, the tingling stopped, and Danneel slowly removed her hand from his. Jensen felt his injuries: cuts healed and bruises no longer tender, aches and pains gone to be replaced by renewed warmth. He shifted in his seat, felling tired but unburdened by the pain he had been subconsciously trying to keep at bay. How had she done that? 

It felt like magic, it seemed like magic, but it was so unbelievable. How could someone heal with a touch? How could someone live forever? Here were these people telling him that all these fictional possibilities were actually true and were willing to offer him proof. If someone tells you the sky is green and the grass is blue, you tell them they’re crazy. But, if they then take you outside and you can clearly see a green sky and blue grass, can you still refuse to believe? Jensen had always considered himself an ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ kind of guy.

Danneel stood up and the rest of the table got up from their seats. She laughed, “What is this, a state dinner? Sit the fuck down.”

Everyone sat back down and Danneel straighten her shoulders and her hair, “Now, Jensen has had a rough day, I know because I felt it when I healed him,” she smiled warmly at Jensen, “I know that we’ve given you a lot to process and you must want to sleep after the day you’ve had.”

Jensen sighed and stood up trying not to glance at Jared, “Yes, actually, I would like to sleep for a few hours before I le…” Jensen glanced at Jared despite himself and noticed that while Jared appeared calm, his fists were clenched, “uh, before I decide what to do next.”

Danneel nodded, throwing Jared a look, she moved to leave the room, “Jensen, if you can follow me, I’ll show you to a room upstairs.”

He grabbed his bag from the bottom of the staircase where Misha had dumped the luggage. Danneel led him up a broad stair case to the second floor where she turned left. Jensen watched her as he followed behind. Her shoulders were straight and her hips swayed just slightly as she walked with purpose. She had so far struck him as both the independent woman she claimed to be, yet humorous and warm. She was, he realized, the kind of woman he would have taken home to his mother… if he had a mother.

She looked back towards him, “The third floor is Misha and Aldis’s domain, so enter at your own risk. Jared is on the other side of the house, straight back that way,” she pointed behind them, “and I’m across the hall from you.”

I’ll have Misha maybe bring up some food for you, feel free to make the bedroom and bathroom yours,” she opened a door to him, pushing it outward to reveal a huge bedroom sparsely decorated but with a huge comfortable looking bed. There were two other doors which must be the closet and bathroom. 

Jensen walked into the room still looking around. Danneel turned to leave and Jensen let slip the question he had been thinking about asking her as they walked up the stairs, “Why don’t you hate me?”

She turned back around slowly, smiling like something amused her, “Why should I hate you?”

Jensen looked at her incredulously, “Your boyfriend down there,” he pointed at the floor, “thinks that I’m the love of his life! Aren’t you pissed that at complete stranger has trumped in one night all those months you spent with him?!”

Danneel held up a hand, “First of all, never tell me how I feel. Secondly, you aren’t a stranger, Jared has been looking for you for years and he’s wanted you for longer than you can image.”

Jensen swallowed and tried to breathe, he was a cautious and calculating person who couldn’t understand the idea of things like soul mates. Soul mates meant lack of control, and apparently yearning for someone you’ve never met, which was improbable. 

Danneel shook her head, “Sometimes I forget how you mortals have to think everything through, over and over, running circles in your head, when instead you could be enjoying life.”

Danneel came forward and placed her hand on his chest, a warm heaviness settling over his heart. He felt the familiar warmth spreading out into his body, the same tingling that crackled along his skin. He shivered; she added a whole new meaning to healing touch.

Danneel breathed out, and blinked, “You have a, um, strong life force. Can you feel me?”

Jensen laughed, “I’m not sure how to describe what I feel…”

Danneel nodded, “Then you can feel me. When I heal someone, I’m sharing my energy with them, using it to channel their own body’s natural restorative capabilities to fix what’s broken. By sharing my energy, I’m connecting a part of myself with them. They can sense my state of mind and I can sense theirs.”

Jensen brought his hands up to place them over her hand on his heart. He looked her in the eyes, now a warm light brown color, “So, why are you sharing with me now? You already healed my injuries.”

“Because it’s important that you believe what I’m about to tell you, and this way you can sense my sincerity because you can feel my emotions. You’ll know if I’m lying, my energy will change.”

Jensen nodded, “Ok, sure, why not.”

Danneel narrowed her eyes at him, “Ok, this situation ends positively in one of two ways. One, you realize that Jared is the only person you’ll ever love and you make the decision to build your new assassination-free life with him. If you’ll allow it, then I stay in both your lives in whatever capacity you’ll permit. And before you dismiss the committed threesome option altogether I would like to add that I give great blowjobs.”

Jensen raised one eyebrow and tried not to become flustered by her forwardness, but Danneel continued unperturbed, “Two, you still decide to trust Jared and try to make it work with him, but you insist that I leave because me staying is too weird. I’ll probably go traveling in the far east as I’ve always longed to travel extensively on my own terms.”

Jensen frowned, “That’s it, and you just leave?”

“That’s it. Because I really do care for Jared and I always knew that ultimately his mate would always come before me, which is how it should be. Jared knows that I have a free spirit and a progressive idea of how relationships should work,” Jensen is sure that she is telling the truth, because her hand is still sending tingling waves of warmth into his body, but he still doesn’t understand.

“So, if those are the two positive solutions,” he says, “what are the negative endings?”

Danneel’s smile faded and her face fell, “There is only one. You reject the soul mate bond, you leave Jared, and I’m left to pick up the pieces. I’ll stay with him until her either goes rogue and I can’t control him any longer, or he chooses to die.”

Jensen ripped himself away from her touch, unable to accept the truth of her words any longer, “Die! He’ll die? Isn’t he immortal?”

Danneel nodded sadly, “Just because someone can live forever, doesn’t mean they would want to. A Vampire can live without ever finding their mate, and they can find some semblance of happiness with another partner. But, once they know the touch and presence of their mate and then are rejected, well, most of them choose to die.   There are ways an immortal can be killed.”

Jensen thought that sounded awfully vague. How could Jared die? Why would he do that just because Jensen left? People fell in love, got hurt, and moved on all the time.

Jensen had turned his back to her, but he felt her eyes on him as she spoke, “Jensen, I feel like maybe we’re similar: solitary, independent, shy around people we don’t know, but giving and loyal to those who have earned our love or trust. There are a few ways that we can be happy because we have the option of freewill here,” Jensen cringed as her voice took on a desperate note, “but there’s only one way that Jared can be happy.”

Jensen wanted it to be that simple, a whispered yes at the right moment, and he saves a life. He makes a decision in less than 24 hours that will affect him for the rest of his life and then everyone lives happily ever after. He’d like to pretend that choosing a life partner, or two, can be the kind of love at first sight, split second decision you can make and live with. But what if he can’t live with it? What if he says yes and he gives himself over and he can’t be what Jared needs, what Danneel needs, and then he has to leave any way. Everyone’s back where they started, lonely and broken.

He turned to try to explain all these doubts to Danneel only to find her gone. His shoulders slumped as he realized that he was alone for now, and that only he could really make the decisions that have to be made. He went into the bathroom to take a shower and brush his teeth; his nightly routine made him feel more normal. There are all sorts of things in his suitcase, not just things he needs but pictures and other mementos that he would have missed eventually. Danneel and Jared were really good at getting the important things. How did they manage to pack his entire closet into one giant suitcase?

When Jensen finally wondered back out into his bedroom he found a bowl of soup, a slice of bread, and a glass of juice sitting on a table in his room. He forgot about Misha bringing him food. It looks like the drapes have been pulled to block the sun out as well; the room was dimly lit with one of the bedside lamps. He had barely enough energy to eat, brush his teeth again, and fall into bed. He’s asleep the instant his face hits the pillow, grateful for once that he’s too tired to think.

Jensen wasn’t sure what woke him up; he was a light sleeper though. Even after years of civilian life he could still go from deep sleep to fully alert in less than a second. The absence of light from around the edges of the drapes told him he had slept through the day and into the night. He felt rested though, not having to wake to the sound of his alarm for the first time since ever.

The room was dark and warm, the house seemed quiet, Jensen rolled over in bed sitting up to glance around the room. Some noise, a shift in the atmosphere of the room, had to have caused him to startle awake. He felt safe, he didn’t feel like he was in danger, but he did feel… watched? A shiver moved up his spine as his body twitched with awareness.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he looked around the unfamiliar bedroom trying to remember what undistinguishable black blob was compared to another: table, desk, couch, and fireplace. His eyes caught on a tall, broad blob that looked a little too human to be furniture. He squinted as Jared finally came into focus, standing with his back leaning against the wall. He had on sweats and a t-shirt, which clung to his frame and made Jensen want to run his hands over every inch of cotton covered skin.

Jensen leaned over and flipped on the bedside lamp, “Dude, you’re going to give me a heart attack, or a complex or something.”

Jared continued to lean against the wall, his eyes meetings Jensen’s across the room, “I barely got any rest knowing you were down the hall. So, I decided to at least be as close to you as I could without, you know, touching you.”

Jensen shrugged, “I suppose I should be grateful you’re not giving me a real reason to lock my door. Of course, why I would ever lock a guy like you out of my bedroom is beyond me.”

Jared laughed, “Uh, thanks, I think.”

Jensen chuckled. He noticed how tense Jared looked still and he sighed, “Look, Jared, my hesitation in this whole thing has nothing to do with not wanting you and Danneel, that’s totally not a problem. It has a lot more to do with crazy stories, and long-term commitments, and the fact that a little over 24 hours ago my biggest problem was being late for work because I stopped to get a bagel and coffee.”

Jared brought a hand up to brush his hair out of his face, “I know, believe me, I know how your entire life can turn upside down from one moment to the next. But, that doesn’t make me want to stay away from you. It doesn’t make it any easier to not do creepy things like watch you sleep. I’m trying, really.”

Jensen laughed, “Yeah, that’s why you’re not doing creepy things like watching me sleep right now.”

Jared groaned, hitting his head on the wall, he chuckled, “I know, I know, I have a personal space issue. I’ll go, really, I’ll go back to my own room.”

Jensen watched Jared move off the wall and walk to the door.

“Wait,” he called out without knowing why. 

Well, he did know, he hadn’t gotten laid in a long time, but it was more than that, “its fine, really, I want, I want you to stay.”

Jensen cleared his throat, he looked down realizing he was in just his boxers as Jared turned back to look at him, “I really want nothing more than for you to come over here and fuck me, but I still can’t promise I won’t leave.”

Jared swung around making a beeline for the bed, “I can live with that.”

Jensen winced, “And by ‘live with that’, you mean that you literally can’t live with it if we do this and then I leave.”

Jared shook his head, “No, what I mean is that I don’t care. If I’m going to die of thirst I’d rather know the taste of water first, so I can really appreciate the dryness later,” Jared grinned at his own horrible joke.

Jensen shook his head, “Jared, that isn’t funny. I want to be selfish and have this but I can’t feel responsible for…”

Jared had made it to the bed though, was lowering himself onto the mattress and moving to stretch out over Jensen as he pushed him back, “Sshhh, let me have this.”

Jensen could feel every inch of muscle as Jared brought his body down to meet Jensen’s own. For some reason Jensen had been expecting him to be cold, but he was like a furnace, a solid weight radiating heat into Jensen’s body. His breathing started to get a bit heavier; his heart beat speeding up, as Jared’s head dipped closer to his own. He could see his features up close, so gorgeous and masculine.

He had been aching to run his fingers through Jared’s shaggy, silky brown hair so he indulged, sinking his fingers into the strands. Jared arched up into his touch before lowering his head to skim his lips lightly along Jensen’s throat.

It was a great time for Jensen to remember that Jared claimed to be a Vampire and he was remembering, maybe a bit late, that Vampires tended to bite. His body’s natural reaction was to fight back, but Jensen only shivered and jumped slightly under Jared, his fingers tightening in Jared’s hair as Jared started licking a path from Jensen’s collar bone to his ear.

Maybe Jared had read his mind because he whispered softly, “I won’t bite, I’ll be good, I promise.”

Jensen moaned as the whispered words sent hot breaths of air blowing across his ear. He shifted his legs so that Jared was laying between his open thighs, bringing one leg up to rub his calf up and over the back of Jared’s thigh, “I’m not afraid, just curious. Can I see them?”

Jared leaned back to look at Jensen, “See my fangs?”

Jensen rubbed at the back of Jared’s neck, hoping that he hadn’t upset him, “Yeah, if you want to bite me with them, I want to see them first.”

Jared tilted his head to the side smiling, “Does that mean if I show them to you, then I can bite you with them?”

Jensen shrugged, “It means I’ll consider it.”

Jared rolled his eyes, but he opened his mouth drawing his top lip back slightly. Jensen watched as Jared’s normal looking canine teeth lengthened and sharpened; not too much, but noticeably.

“Whoa, you weren’t shitin’ me… those are legit.” Jensen stared curiously as the fangs retreated and Jared smiled down at him normally.

“So, now that you know I’m legit, can I like legit fuck you now?”

Jensen grinned, “I’d hate to say no to that eloquent, romantic proposition.”

Jared bent his head down, his lips sealing over Jensen’s and his tongue sliding along the seam of Jensen’s lips until he opened, allowing Jared into the wet heat of his mouth. Their tongues dueled, licking and nibbling as Jared tried to memorize the taste of his mate, mapping out his mouth. Jensen had decided he didn’t need to breathe, with Jared’s heat on top of his and his lips sliding over Jensen’s own. He opened his mouth wider, trying to give Jared more access. His thighs closed around Jared’s hips.

Jared could feel that Jensen was already hard through the layer of sweatpants and boxers and he thrust his hips down, grinding his groin against Jensen’s. Jensen’s body arched against Jared’s and he moaned into his mouth. Jared returned the moan, breathing into Jensen’s mouth.

Jensen groaned as Jared broke their kiss to trail a line of open mouth kisses down his throat. Everywhere his mouth touched, fire blossomed over Jensen’s skin, a sweet heat flowing over his nerve endings. He had never been with anyone who he shared this much instant chemistry with. Maybe it had something to do with this soul mate thing that Jared had tried to convince him of.

Everything was heat, like the minute they had touched that first spark had started a fire that was just getting hotter as fingers and hands, lips and tongues, perused salty skin. Jensen tugged on Jared’s shirt trying to get it off. Jared helped to pull it over his head, tossing it to the side as he leaned down to continue sucking a mark right over Jensen’s left nipple.

Jensen gripped Jared’s shoulders and bucked his body up, tossing them off balance and to the side, rolling on top of the larger man. Jared stared up at him in surprise for a minute before laughing, “It’s been a long time since I slept with someone who could throw me off guard.”

Jensen shrugged, “Something tells me, Danneel is stronger than she looks.”

Jared nodded, “She is strong... and fast.”

Jensen moved down until Jared’s neck and chest were in prime position as he leaned over to lick over Jared’s hot skin under his collar bone and then blow cool air over it.

His voice had dropped an octave when Jensen moved up further to whisper into Jared’s ear, “My turn.”

He bent down to run his tongue up Jared’s throat and suck on his earlobe. Jared moaned as his hands came up to trail his finger tips down Jensen’s back to the waistband of his boxers, slipping his hands under to grip Jensen’s ass. Pulling his lower body down to meet Jared’s upward thrust. Jensen stopped nibbling on Jared’s shoulder to pant helplessly as his hips snapped forwards again, searching for that friction. 

Jared growled, “Off, get them off.”

Jensen didn’t even have to ask what he was talking about, he rolled onto his back stripping his boxers off and tossing them over the side of the bed. Jared did the same, sending his sweat pants flying to the foot of the bed. When they rolled back together it was skin to skin, heat to heat, pressed together, hissing in pleasure as their erections met. 

Jared’s hand immediately started exploring Jensen’s body, caressing every inch of skin he could get his hands on as he leaned in to capture Jensen’s mouth in a kiss. Jensen was drowning in sensations, Jared’s smell and presence all around him, and he was pretty sure that he had never been this caught up in another person. He burned and needed and ached for the man in ways that he never had before.

As if once again reading Jensen’s mind Jared nudged Jensen to roll over so that the Vampire was spooned up behind him. He could feel Jared’s obvious arousal from behind and he reached back with one had to bury his fingers in Jared’s hair while he used the other hand to steady himself on the bed.

Jensen wasn’t sure where this position was going until Jared started attacking his neck, biting and licking and sucking, but mostly biting. About the same time he reached around, sliding his large hand from Jensen’s hip to his cock. Jensen gave a helpless cry from deep in his throat as the unexpected touch shot tiny jolts of pleasure up his spine. 

Jared growled in his ear, his breath panting out over Jensen’s sensitive skin and he could feel Jared thrusting against his ass, “I want you in so many ways, I can’t decide what I want first.”

Jensen’s breath left him with a whooshing noise and he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to take another breath as Jared growled in his ear again. The Vampire grazed his teeth along the skin of Jensen’s shoulder as he squeezed his hand and twisted his wrist. 

Jensen was pretty sure that he had never been a strong bottom, though it had happened on occasion, but Jared pressed all his buttons. Jared made him want to tie himself to a bed, cover himself in chocolate and wait to be eaten, made him want to scream at the top of his lungs to take him hard and fast and rough and, “now, damnit, please, now.”

Jensen realized that he said the last part out loud when the hand wrapped around his cock suddenly disappeared and he cried out at the loss even as he was shoved down to his back. Fingers were pressed to his mouth and he opened greedily, sucking them in and making them slippery because he knew what that meant.

Jensen opened his eyes, and when had he closed them, to see Jared above him looking down with lust blown eyes as Jensen sucked on his fingers. He swirled his tongue over the pads of Jared’s fingers, flicking the tip back and forth and was rewarded when Jared moaned.

Jared groaned as Jensen’s talented mouth worked his fingers. He pulled them out finally because if they didn’t get on with this then he wasn’t going to last. His mate was so beautiful, sexy, responsive, and laid out like the sweetest of sacrifices at the only alter Jared was praying at. He was here and he was unsure, but he was letting Jared touch him, have him, and that was something, that was everything.

He reached down to press a finger into Jensen’s tight channel, moving in caressing circles over the hole to relax the muscle. Jared thought maybe it had been a while since Jensen had been with a guy, he had said as much, and the tense ring of heat that engulfed Jared’s finger was proof.

Jared worked on stretching, adding a finger, letting Jensen adjust. He whispered non-sense things to him as he did, trailing kisses over his chest and abs. When he had worked three fingers in, he slid his index finger along the smooth muscle, crooking it just right so that…

Jensen yelped, a high pitched keening sound, as his hips thrust up and then down again on Jared’s fingers. Jared grinned, found it. He continued to stroke over the spot and watched as his mate arched off the bed, white knuckles gripping the sheets, beads of sweat running down smooth skin. His breath caught in his throat and he got impossibly harder as he watched Jensen come apart for him. 

Jared hoped that the impatient hands pulling and gripping his shoulders were Jensen’s way of articulating his readiness, because Jared couldn’t wait any longer. He slid his fingers out, pumping his own cock a few times to spread the pre-cum around, and lined up at Jensen’s entrance. He pushed in slowly, sliding into tight heat, breathing slowly, trying not to just thrust in and bottom out immediately.

Jared could see the tremble in Jensen’s thighs, the crease in his forehead that indicated pain, but he kept up the steady pace until he was all the way in. Finally, he was fully sheathed in his mate’s body, counting backwards from 100, in increments of two, in Latin, to stay still to give Jensen time to adjust. 

He felt Jensen relax around him as his breathing finally became less stilted and shallow. Jared leaned forward and down, trailing kisses from Jensen’s throat to his ear and back.

Jensen felt the feather light kisses on his throat as the burning subsided into an ache. Jared’s voice was rough above him, “look at me. Open your eyes. I want to see you.”

Jensen hadn’t remembered closing his eyes again, but he opened them to find Jared’s own hazel eyes staring down at him shining with emotions that Jensen didn’t want to contemplate. 

Jared smiled and Jensen felt dizzy, “God, your eyes are so fucking sexy: smoky and green. Just keep them open, keep looking at me, let me know you’re with me.”

Jensen wanted to ask where else he was supposed to be, but he thought he knew what Jared meant. He couldn’t close his eyes to the things he saw in Jared’s eyes, just like he couldn’t let him leave the bedroom earlier. The road between “should have” and “wanted to” was paved with the glittering bricks of selfishness, thought Jensen as Jared started to move.

Jared pulled out almost all the way before sinking back in, repeating that move slowly a few times before they both got too eager. Jensen dug his fingers into Jared’s back, wrapping his legs around his waist and using the leverage to pull him in closer, faster.

“Come on Jared, I need, God, I need you to…” Jensen broke off mid-plea as Jared’s cock dragged over that sweet spot inside him. His body jumped and his muscles trembled as sparks of pleasure shivered up and down his spine.

Jared picked up the pace, pulling out and slamming back in, his hips snapping forward and up to hit Jensen’s sweet spot with every thrust. They could both feel the heat building in their bodies. The urgent fire coursing through itching veins until everything was faster, harder, more. Skin hitting, sticking, sliding as hands sought purchase and mouths met in heated kisses, tongues dueling. 

Jared felt his fangs lengthen on their own, but he fought the urge to feed, pushing back the hunger for blood with the reminder that he had drunk from Danneel already. He saw Jensen’s eyes widen when he felt the sharp teeth against his lips, but he didn’t jerk away.   

Jared pulled back, so close to the edge, the pressure building in his spine and the pleasure building in his abdomen. He reached down between their bodies to grip Jensen’s cock, sliding his hand up and down a few times. He twisted his wrist at the top, running his finger over the head, and Jensen came. He arched into Jared, painting both their stomach with ropes of cum, his body tightening almost painfully around Jared.

The Vampire cried out, moving to rest his weight on both hands now on the sheets, thrusting hard twice more as his own orgasm washed over him. He mirrored the groans still coming from Jensen beneath him, whispering his mate’s name. Jared rode it out till they were both spent and then he collapsed, draping his body over Jensen’s. 

It was so hot in the room, the sheets were damp with sweat, and Jensen could feel the come covering both of them beginning to cool on his skin. But, Jared still hadn’t rolled off of him, was currently nuzzling his neck as they both lay blessed out in the dimly lit room. Jared was heavy, but in a good way and Jensen really didn’t want to move. He ran his hands up and down Jared’s back which elicited a lazy hum out of the man on top of him. 

Finally, Jared rolled to the side staring up at the ceiling for a second before propping himself up on his side and looking down at Jensen, “ _That_ … was perfect…”

Jensen laughed, “If it was perfect the first time, how is it supposed to get any better?”

Jared smiled, “And by perfect, I mean it could use some work.”

Jensen laughed again, the sound carrying in the spacious room. He stilled as Jared ran a finger absentmindedly up and down his throat, “Why didn’t you, you know, bite me, or whatever?”

Jared had been staring at a particularly yummy looking patch of skin on Jensen’s stomach, but his eyes snapped to Jensen’s at the questions, “I didn’t bite you because you didn’t tell me I could.”

Jensen blushed, “Dude, I’m pretty sure you could have asked me to jump off the Eiffel Tower a minute ago and I would have gladly leaped.”

Jared gave him a grin, “It was that good huh?”

Jensen blushed a bit more and tried to clear his throat, “All I’m saying is you could have, but you didn’t.”

Jared shrugged, “I’m not going to lie, I wanted to. I’m _always_ goin’ want to,” Jared ran a hand through his hair, “but, I want you to think of sex with me as something that _can_ be, but never _has_ to be, tied to blood. If, at some point, you decide that you will allow me to drink from you then that’s great. But, if that’s never something you wish to participate in then I’ll be happy with what parts of yourself you’re willing to give.”

Jensen looked away, “I’m not going to lie and say that it isn’t weird, the idea of you drinking my blood. Not that I think you would ever hurt me. You’ve had ample opportunity already to kill me, or whatever.”

Jared’s intense gaze didn’t let up, “All you need to know is that whatever happens, happens if and when you want it to. Ok?”

Jensen sighed, “Jared, I want to be really honest with you and Danneel. So, here is me being honest. It has been a really long time since I did long-term anything, k? But, I’ve recently found myself with a whole lotta time for the foreseeable future and nowhere to go,” Jensen laughed, but it didn’t carry much actual humor.

He swallows, “All I have to offer you right now is that I’m not leaving when I wake up tomorrow. I also don’t see me leaving the day after that. But, I don’t know how long I’m going to stay either…”

Jared leaned down, kissing him lightly at first but then with more pressure. Jensen opened his mouth to the probing tongue sliding along the seam of his lips. They dueled for a few minutes, tongues twirling and flicking against one another as the heat started to build again.

Jared pulled away when he thought Jensen might need to breathe, he trailed kisses along Jensen’s jaw, “I’ll never ask more of you than you can give me.”

Jensen closed his eyes and whispered, “What if I can’t give you anything?”

Jared swirled his tongue into Jensen’s ear, “Then it’s my problem and I’ll deal with it as long as I know you’re out there in the world and you’re happy…”

Jensen shook his head while he buried his fingers in Jared’s hair tugging his head up to look at him, “You can’t mean that.”

Jared looked sad for a second but then the look was gone and Jensen couldn’t see anything but a calm resignation, “I’ll always mean what I say to you.”

Jensen rolled his eyes, “Jesus, _stop_ being so fucking perfect.”

Jared rolled his eyes right back, “ _You_ stop being everything I’ve ever wanted in a man.”

They both smiled at the same time, Jensen sighed, “I really need us to be done with the talking for a while.”

Jared nodded, “Yeah, I really need to fuck you again… from behind… slowly.”

Jensen tried not to let out the breathy moan that the image in his head created, but it slipped out anyway. Jared chuckled as the fingers in his hair tightened and pulled him down for another kiss.

Danneel crept out into the hallway, standing just outside her bedroom door and tilting her head towards Jensen’s door so that she could hear better. This was so wrong, Jared was having a private moment with his mate and here she was, being a lurker. She heard another soft whisper and then a long moan. She tiptoed across the hallway, closer than she wanted to be to the delicious sounds, yet not close enough.   

She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Misha and Aldis stalking down the hallway from the direction of the staircase.

Danneel hissed under her breath, “What are you doing?”

Misha and Aldis looked at each other, Aldis pointed at himself, “I was just going to get a snack, you know, I was hungry and…” he pointed at Misha, “he talked me into coming closer to the door.”

Misha rolled his eyes and whispered back, “What are _you_ doing?”

Danneel drew herself up to her full height and tried to sound serious, “I heard suspicious noises; I was just checking it out.”

Misha ginned, “Oh, you know what you heard, pervert. Funny, how we found you lurking around also. Cause, that’s not voyeuristic at all.”

Danneel shoved a lock of hair behind her ear, crossing her arms and huffing quietly, “Shut-up, I wanted to, um…”

Misha grinned, “Yeah, you wanted to um… be able to hear those sexy noises coming from that room better.”

Danneel nodded, “Well, yeah. “

They stood quietly for a minute listening in the darkness.

Aldis shook his head, “Ok, this is awkward, I’m going back to bed.”

Misha yawned, “Yeah, me too.”

Danneel mumbled, “I’m going to take a cold shower.”

“At least he’s not a screamer,” Aldis turned and looked at her.

She scoffed, “Please, I don’t scream,” she waved a hand in the air, “I’m just vocally appreciative.”

A muffled curse came from behind the closed door, followed by a long moan.

“G‘night,” Danneel whispered.

Danneel turned to go back into her room as Misha and Aldis made a beeline for the staircase. Once she got into her room with the door closed firmly behind her she made her way over to the bathroom. No way was she going to be able to sleep after that, her imagination was too good. Her skin had been on fire thinking about those two together since Jared had told her about wanting to keep both her and Jensen. 

What girl didn’t think two was better than one? She threw her shirt off and tossed it to the floor, hopping on one foot and then the other to shimmy her sleep shorts down to her ankles and step out of them while turning the shower on. She stepped into the shower without letting it warm, hissing as the chilly water streamed over her body. She stood there shivering, panting out sharp bursts of air, trying to forget the sounds she had heard from the other side of Jensen’s bedroom door.

“Oh, fuck this,” she whispered to herself. She flicked her wrist and turned the water temp to hot. The water slowly warmed, and soothed the goose bumps that had risen on her skin. She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, worrying it as she ran her hands over her body. She leaned against the shower wall, her hair getting damp in the spray of water. 

She thought about the soft growls that Jared always made when he pushed into her and combined those in her mind with the breathy moans and curses from Jensen that she had overheard. She pictured what they looked like, what position she thought they might be using. Her mind was working overtime, spinning colorful, vivid, sexy images in her head. 

Was Jared licking a path up Jensen’s neck? Was he thrusting slowly, teasingly as they both spiraled higher? Was Jensen arching up, wrapping his legs around Jared’s waist, with his bright green eyes blown wide with lust? Danneel moaned softy as she let her fingers trail down her stomach to touch herself between her legs. 

She let her head fall back making a thudding sound as she rubbed over her clit, moving back to dip two fingers into the heat of her body. The water helped, making her skin slippery, mixing with her liquid desire as she stroked and thrust her fingers in and out. Her breathing became harsher, her chest rising and falling as small, pleased noises made their way out of her throat.

She laughed and it turned into a breathy keening noise as she started to rock her hips back and forth in counterpoint to the motion of her hand. The hot water streamed down her body, flowing over her sensitive skin and nipples, adding to her pleasure. She thought about Jared’s mouth at her throat, Jensen’s lips and hands skimming her body. Her body suddenly tightened around her fingers, clinching and releasing as she cried out to the empty bathroom.

Her knees gave out as she sank to the bottom of the shower, laying there in the spray as the shower washed her clean. She tried to catch her breath as she sat there. She was going to sleep great tonight, he body no longer harboring the nervous energy she carried after performing a healing on someone. She dried off and made her way back to bed collapsing onto the sheets and snuggling into the comforter without bothering to put clothes back on.

 

[Chapter Five](http://silver-slashes.livejournal.com/7499.html#cutid1)


	7. Your Taste is Like the Wind on My Tongue

 

**Chapter Five**

Danneel attacked Jensen the minute his foot touched the floor at the bottom of the stairs. She was standing there like she had been waiting for him, “So, how was it last night? Was it good? Did you like it when he bit you?”

Jensen crossed his arms, defensive, “how do you know we slept together?”

Danneel rolled her eyes, “because my room is across from yours and I could definitely hear you. Plus Jared’s face said it all when he came downstairs a minute ago.”

Jensen groaned in embarrassment, slapping his hand over his face, “Oh man, I’m so sorry. I kind of forgot about, you know, about other people in the house.”

Danneel grinned, shaking her head, “don’t worry about it, I totally got off in the shower after from just listening to you guys.”

“You what?!” Jensen was definitely turning red.

Danneel shrugged, “You really need to open yourself up more, why are humans so uptight about their sexuality?”

Jensen grinned despite himself and rolled his eyes, “ _Most_ people are uncomfortable with sex and sharing the things they do behind closed doors with other people, humans have a history with sexual taboos. If you’re as old as you claim to be, then you should know.”

Danneel shrugged and turned to walk away, motioning that he should follow, “Doesn’t mean I understand it. And for the record, I’m only like 81. Plus, isn’t your generation supposed to have broken the mold, like the 60’s but with fewer drugs?”

Jensen shrugged as he followed her to the back part of the house; he hoped she was going to the kitchen, “I guess, my generation is more accepting of things like multiple partners and fetishes and all that jazz.”

Danneel nodded, “Speaking of multiple partners…”

Jensen looked back to her, his gaze had been wandering along the parts of the house they were passing that he hadn’t seen yet, “You mean, have I thought about it any since last night?”

Danneel nodded, she had led them into a spacious kitchen with soft lighting and old appliances, “No pressure, really, I mean, if you want to take your time getting to know Jared and all. I can, you know, wait…”

He smiled at her, leaning on the kitchen counter with his arms crossed, “You always have the shower.”

She grinned, he was teasing her, it was a good sign, “That’s right, I always have the shower.”

He looked at her, the light in his eyes changing and his grin becoming even more genuine, “Danneel, it’s not that I’m not interested because,” his gaze fell down her frame and raked back up, “I’d have to be in a coma to not be interested. But, I really like Jared, apparently,” he only looked a little confused and she found him adorable, “so I’m trying to decide if I can like both of you equally. I want to be fair, I guess.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, which she noticed he did when he got nervous or frustrated. She smiled, walking over to stand in front of him as she placed her hands on his shoulder, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek.

She let her lips linger a bit longer than necessary, “You don’t have to explain anything to me or Jared, ok?   Whatever happens, we’ll all figure it out together.”

She pulled away, turning to walk to the fridge, “Now, how about some eggs and bacon?”

Jensen heard his stomach rumble, the woman was offering him bacon… maybe it really was love. He was about to answer her when he felt a shiver up his spine, confused he turned towards the kitchen door. Jared was standing there, leaning against the door frame, looking better than bacon.

He smiled, glancing from Jensen to Danneel who still hadn’t realized he was there, “I really like bacon,” he said.

Danneel didn’t even look up from getting things out of the fridge, but Jensen heard her snort, “You don’t even eat food J, you just like the smell.”

Jared shrugged as he crowded up in Jensen’s personal space, molding himself to Jensen’s back, running his fingers up his side and across his stomach, “Good morning,” he whispered in Jensen’s ear.

Jensen shivered; he hadn’t been with someone who had pursued him instead of expecting to be pursued in a while. It was something he had missed about being with men, decisiveness and straight forwardness. But, Danneel was easy to talk to and understand also. Maybe he had just found two people who were easy to live with and easy to love. If only life could be that simple. Jensen watched as Danneel winked at him from the stove as Jared nuzzled his neck. Then again, why couldn’t it be that simple?

Jensen cleared his throat, slipping out of Jared’s hold but brushing against him as they both leaned on the counter, “Why are we eating bacon at two in the morning? Why am I up at two in the morning?”

Danneel cracked an egg, “Because you slept all day?”

“Is this going to be my new schedule? Sleep during the day and stay up at night?”

Jared bumped his shoulder against Jensen’s, “Well, yeah,” he pointed at himself, “Vampire.”

Jensen shrugged, “S’just goin’ take some getting used to.”

Danneel smiled over her shoulder, scrambling eggs, “Don’t worry, you’ll be a regular creature of the night soon.”

Jensen smiled; he was going to start looking on the bright side. He could be at work, slaving away to meet his client consulting project deadlines, over-worked and under-appreciated in his corner office. Instead, he was in Scotland, starting life over, standing in a kitchen with two super hot people who wanted to have super hot threesome sex with him, and they were making him bacon.

As Misha bounced in, smiling and yelling, “I smell bacon!”… Jensen thought things were maybe starting to look up.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jensen panted as the sweat trickled down his neck, “how does The Council choose assignments? I mean, is it just random? Is it, I don’t know, based on wealth?”

Danneel spun as he lunged for her, her auburn pony tail swishing through the air, “Oh, honey, it could never be based on wealth, almost all immortals are filthy rich, and those who aren’t just don’t know how to invest. Greed is a motivating factor for The Council, who seem unsatisfied by the massive amounts of money they already have. But when it comes to assignments, it’s all a bit vague.”

She parried with her own flick of the blade, making him side step and bring his blade up sharp to protect his neck. Jensen listened to her continue, realizing with unfairness that she wasn’t even that out of breath, “assignment is based upon Seer readings. The Council receives directives from the League of Seers who see what is, what was, and what will be. I haven’t ever been able to prove that The Council was pocketing Seers to ‘predict’ certain pairings, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Danneel brought her sword low, blocking his swipe at her vulnerable thigh extended out in her stance, Jensen took a deep breath to speak, “So, everyone just takes whatever prediction is given? How accurately can someone see the future?”

Danneel advanced on him as he spoke, making wide arcs with her sword towards his left, then right, shoulder. He parried each on high and on the third one their swords met and held.

The metallic clang on metal faded until all that filled the large room was the sound of their labored breathing.

Danneel smiled up at him through the v-shape of their crossed swords, “The thing is, even if the Seers were actually looking into the future to foresee who each Vampire and Giver should be assigned to, the future is subject to change. Divination is an imperfect art; it’s not fair to decide someone’s entire life for them based on one glimpse of an improbable future.”

Jensen stepped back, their swords sliding apart with a zinging noise as they both circled each other for one more round, “you’ve experienced this first hand. You mentioned it at the table yesterday. Or the day before yesterday? This awake at night thing is really screwing me up.”

Danneel spun the sword in her hand, her eyes darting from his face to the rest of his body looking for a weakness, “Yes, Chad and I were matched in the tradition of the Seer-reading. The short version of the story is that he’s a selfish bastard.”

Jensen shrugged, “Anyone who doesn’t treat you right is definitely a bastard in my book.”

Danneel smiled at him, “Aw, thanks.”

With that she raised her sword and made a pass at his left side, open to attack, but he was ready for her and parried. Jensen felt the vibrations of the touch from the swords traveling up his arm, damn she was strong. They fought for a few more minutes, moving, and spinning, stepping around each other as their swords clashed and sparked. Jensen ended up on the floor with his blade clattering across the floor and the tip of Danneel sword at his throat.

She laughed as she helped him up, “That wasn’t bad for someone minimally trained and out of practice.”

Jensen grinned as he went to retrieve the sword she had thrown him when they’d come in here. It had once been the ballroom, but Danneel had scraped together a training room out of it with mats and weapons. She had asked if the army still trained in older weaponry with all the new technology. Jensen had explained that they normally didn’t, but that it was possible to supplement your training, if you wanted to, by learning swordsmanship. 

He was rusty, he insisted it had been years since he’d wielded a sword, but she had tossed him one anyway. They had been at it for about 20 minutes before she had managed to put him on the floor.

They both turned when they heard clapping. Jared was leaning against the door frame watching them. He straightened up and walked over to them, “Well that was sexy.”

Jensen quirked an eyebrow, “What, watching us fight?”

Jared’s eyes smoldered when he looked at him, “No, watching you move together.”

Danneel laughed, “Jensen here is quite handy with a sword.”

Jared nodded and practically purred, “Oh, I am aware.”

Jensen groaned, “Jesus Christ, Danneel. Do you have to set them up so perfectly for him?”

She smiled, “Uh-huh. But, what I also meant was that Jensen can defend himself quite well.”

Jared’s voice got a little edgy when he replied, “Let’s just hope he never has to.”

Danneel nodded, “So, what brings you to our little training session? After breakfast you said you were going to go over our logistics with Aldis and Misha.”

Jared looked from Jensen to Danneel, “We did. It was boring. We’re going to go into town and have a drink at the pub. It’s kinda a celebration of the conquering of taxes, fake identities, off-shore bank accounts, and decimal places.”

He said the last bit with such seriousness that both Jensen and Danneel busted out laughing. Jared narrowed his eyes, “Oh, laugh all you want, but I deserve this drink- even if it doesn’t really do anything for me.”

Danneel patted his chest, “We’re not sayin’ you don’t J.”

Jensen nodded eager to have a little time away from Jared’s presence to think. Even when they were on opposite ends of the house now, Jensen could feel him. Which was an even weirder sensation to feel then it was to describe. He allowed Jared to lean down and kiss him thoroughly. Their tongues dueled in much the same way that he and Danneel had just been fighting: thrust, parry, lunge, and stab. 

When Jared pulled away he looked back towards Danneel and then at Jensen, “I thought, while we were gone to the pub, that if you wanted, you and Danneel could take the chance to get to know each other better. Maybe have an uninterrupted dinner or something.”

Jensen got the hint immediately and tried not to feel awkward as he pulled away from Jared to look at Danneel.

She took his words with her usual sereneness, “Sure, I’d love to cook for Jensen. He’s never had my spaghetti.”

She winked at Jensen, “I took up cooking a few years ago to distract myself. I make delicious Italian, you won’t be disappointed.”

Jensen felt like the food wasn’t the only thing that wasn’t going to disappoint, but he kept that to himself as he grinned as her. Her humor was infectious, “I’m never disappointed when a beautiful woman cooks for me.”

She hung her sword on the wall and made her way towards the door, “You think you’re such a charmer Jensen Ackles, but you’re only a cute smile and a devastating pair of eyes.”

Jensen called out to her as she disappeared into the hall, “You think my eyes are devastating?”

He heard her voice float back to him, “Like silver in the blood…”

Jensen looked up at Jared, “Like silver in the blood?”

Jared smirked, “It’s a sayin’ used by Vampires and Givers. Silver weakens us once the metal touches our skin on enters our blood stream in any form, solid or liquid. If it’s enough to incapacitate us so that we can’t defend ourselves, then it can be deadly.”

Jensen made a humming noise in the back of his throat, “Oh, well, stay away from silver.”

Jared nodded, “I intend to. But, more important right now than my severe allergy to silver is what I have to tell you before I leave for the pub.”

Jensen walked over to put his sword up, hanging it on the wall, “And what is that?”

Jensen felt Jared follow him, was not surprised when he found himself pressed up against the wall with warm, rough hands up his shirt and a hot, wet mouth pressed to his throat.

Jared’s voice was rougher than it had been a second ago, “That you are still in control.”

Jensen’s breathing kicked up a notch and his arms came up to circle around Jared’s neck to bring him closer as he whispered into his mouth, “I don’t feel very in control.”

Jared pulled away at that, his gaze riveted to a point on Jensen throat before he managed to drag his eyes up, “You are in control, and tonight can just be dinner.”

Jensen smirked, “Or it can be something more?”

Jared nodded, “Or it can be the _beginning_ of something more.”

Jensen leaned in to slant his mouth over Jared’s again; he tasted so damn good.

He pulled away to whisper to Jared, “It’s still weird that the guy I just had sex with last night is trying to get me to sleep with a woman tonight.”

Jared licked into Jensen’s mouth one more time before pulling away to answer, “If you had met Danneel in a club back in New York one night and she invited you back to her place, would you have gone?”

Jensen threw him a look, “Well, yeah, because she’s super hot!”

Jared returned with a look of his own, a look that clearly said: then what is your problem?

Jensen ran a hand through his hair, “Right, right. Well, you better get goin’ before Misha and Aldis take the car and leave your ass here.”

Jared smiled, “ _Please_ , I could run into town and still beat them there.”

Jensen heard the three stooges pile out the front door as he made his way to the back of the house where the kitchen was. Maybe in a few years he would know his way around this place without needing a map. Danneel was already boiling water for pasta and chopping vegetables for sauce when he came in. 

She smiled at him and nodded towards the counter, “There’s more cutting to be done if you want to take over while I get the pasta going.”

He nodded, “You know, I really love cooking too. It’s what I remember most fondly about my mother, she loved to cook.”

Danneel nodded, “Your parents died when you were, what, eight?”

Jensen sliced through an onion, “Yeah, did you guys do a background check on me before deciding to rescue me?”

Danneel looked up at him from dumping the pasta in the water, “We rescue everyone targeted by The Council, or at least we try to, but a thorough background check helps us to be prepared for anything.”

Jensen shrugged, “Well, then you know that I don’t have anyone to miss me. My friends are wrapped up in their own lives, I don’t talk to my army buddies anymore, my parents are dead, my Great Aunt and Uncle- they raised me- are dead.”

Danneel gave him a faint smile, “Well, now you have us. We care if something happens to you.”

Jensen stopped the knife halfway through slicing a mushroom. He thought about that. Did these people, who claimed to need him in their lives but had only known him for a short time, really care what happened to him outside of how it affected them? He thought about Misha and Aldis, Jared and Danneel, the risks they all took to help strangers. Maybe he had also found a group of friends he could depend on. He had felt alone for longer than he cared to think about.

He smiled at Danneel, “Thanks.”

What else could he say?

She didn’t make him continue though; she finished dumping the pasta and poured a little olive oil in a frying pan. As he finished with the vegetables she scooped them up and dumped them into the oil.

As she stirred them she turned back to face him, “I lost my father a few years ago, and I never knew my mother. He was all I had and I could always go to him with my problems and troubles, and then he was just gone.”

Danneel smiled, “My memories of him are so vivid that sometimes I forget he’s dead,” she turned her back to him, “hell, this makes me sound crazy…”

Jensen shook his head, “Hey, no, it doesn’t. Sometimes I walk into a room and some woman will be wearing Chanel, which was my mother’s perfume, and for just a second I can’t breathe.”

Danneel added some kind of spice as she stirred and silence fell. Jensen thought it should be uncomfortable, but it wasn’t. It was like they were sharing the silence, lost in memories that were different and yet the same, happy yet sad.

Then something occurred to him, “Danneel, if you don’t mind me asking, how did your father die? I mean, I thought you were immortal?”

Danneel hummed, adding cream and wine to the vegetables and garlic, “We are, to a certain degree. We can heal ourselves from most life-threatening injuries, things that would kill a human. But, if we’re weakened or somehow incapacitated then there are two ways to kill us.”

She drew her finger across her throat, “Decapitation. Or fire, because you can’t heal a body that’s turned to ashes.”

Danneel leaned back on the counter by the stove, Jensen looked at her profile as he talked, “Is that why silvers bad, because it incapacitates you?”

Danneel nodded and Jensen didn’t want to push, but he was curious, “So was it fire or, you know, the other thing?”

Danneel sighed, running a hand through her hair and tapping the spoon on the side of the pan before laying it down, “He died in a fire, a cover up that I’ll never be able to prove.”

Jensen huffed, “Let me guess, The Council?”

Danneel grimaced, “He _was_ The Council, or a member of it anyway, remember. But, he went against them by helping an innocent man escape their attempt to execute him. They discovered his treason and they killed him, covered it up by blaming it on the guy who was innocent and already on the run.”

“Who was this guy?”

Danneel turned towards Jensen and crossed her arms, leaning against the counter to mirror his stance, “It was Jared.”

Jensen came up off the counter, surprised, “Your father helped Jared escape? I remember him talking about his Giver betraying him, but I didn’t know The Council would have actually killed him if your father hadn’t… well, what exactly?”

“My father warned him that The Council was planning on killing him, he gave him the tools to escape… we call it going off grid.”

Jensen shook his head, “This whole thing is so crazy! Betrayal, assassination, assignments, death…”

Danneel reached across him to grab two plates from the cabinet, “You’re telling me. But, dinner is ready, so let’s forget about the crazy for a while and just eat.”

“Oh, thank God,” he took the plate of pasta she handed him.

Dinner was delicious and Jensen enjoyed Danneel’s company. She made him comfortable, she made him relax, and he was fascinated by everything she did. In the low light of the kitchen she truly looked like the immortal being she was. Her entire body was Fey-like: glowing skin, sparkling eyes, and her silky read hair falling around her face. She leaned towards him when he talked, moved her hands when she talked, and was in constant motion, like running water.

But, it was like her constant energy was soothing to him; the more energized she got the more at peace he felt. She was funny too. Though she swore up and down that he was also humorous he just laughed at her, he had never really seen himself as funny… maybe unintentionally. He did like to laugh, and Danneel made him feel like he would never stop laughing.

It was refreshing, despite the circumstances, to be on a sort-of-date and finally feel like he had made a connection with someone. And she knew how to fight with a sword, which was just awesome. It was like he was about to sleep with Laura Croft… the night after sleeping with Superman. Jensen smiled as Danneel took a sip of wine; he really was getting lucky lately. Well, except for the assassination attempt. 

When they were both finished and the bottle of wine had been emptied Danneel got up to put their plates in the sink. She looked at the dishes in the sink and shrugged, “I’ll let one of the guys do them later.”

Danneel figured she could at least leave them to soak so they didn’t get gross waiting to be cleaned. She turned to lean over the sink, taking the drain plug off the window seal and placing it in the sink, running the water to hot and letting it fill up. She was about to turn around when she felt hands slide onto her hips and around to her stomach pulling her back and pushing her forward till she was trapped.

  
  
  
[Chapter Six](http://silver-slashes.livejournal.com/7837.html#cutid1)


	8. Your Taste is Like the Wind on My Tongue

 

**Chapter Six**

Danneel reached out to grip the sides of the counter, pushing herself back and aligning her body with Jensen’s. She could feel his strong thighs, the strength in his arms and chest as the heat of their bodies mingled. Her imagination had been working on this scenario for a good 24 hours, maybe longer, and she could already picture perfectly how she wanted to be spread out on the counter for him. She had just been waiting for him to make his move.

Her breath stuttered out in a weak laugh when she felt his face press into her hair, her body already tensing in anticipation, “I thought I was going to have to give you a hand-written invitation.”

She couldn’t see his smile, but she could hear it in his voice, “I like a slow build up, it’s all part of my master plan.”

Danneel tilted her head to give him better access as his began to trail kisses down the side of her neck, “does your master plan end with you fucking me on the counter?”

Jensen’s hips snapped forward at the image she painted with her words, “it definitely ends with me fucking you, but if you’re set on the counter then I’m not about to deny a lady her fantasy.”

His voice had dropped an octave and his lips were pressing into the sensitive area under her ear. Danneel reached out blindly, slamming the water off before trying to slide around in his grasp. Once she got her back to the sink and their stomachs were touching, her breasts pressed into him, she looked up. 

Their eyes met for a moment before she was leaning up and he was leaning down and their mouths were meeting. It was heated and passionate, just this side of quick and dirty. He bent her over the sink, pressing her backwards as his tongue swiped across her mouth and his teeth nibbled at her lips. The minute she opened for him, her body going soft beneath his, he thrust his tongue in searching out the taste and contours of her mouth. 

She groaned as their tongues played, twining together and their lips slipped over each other. Hands grabbed hair and skin, clutching at clothes to push and pull so that they could get closer. She wrapped her arms around his neck as his hands slipped under her ass to lift her up. She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, loving the groan that slipped out of his mouth and into her own.

He swung her around to the island in the center of the kitchen, empty counter space that he sat her up on. Their lips broke apart and harsh breathing filled the room as they both tried to catch their breaths. She curled her fingers under his shirt, running her hands over the hot, hard skin underneath as she brought it up and over his head. He shivered as her fingertips skimmed his sensitive skin.

Jensen watched as she tossed his shirt to the floor and he moved to rid her of her own clothing. Her shirt, then an undershirt, and finally her bra were being tossed backwards, probably landing in the sink. He leaned over her, forcing her back onto the cold counter and she shivered as the cool surface touched her skin causing her nipples to harden.

The minute Danneel was laid out beneath him he began to explore every inch of her skin. He licked the column of her throat, down to the swell of her breasts, pausing to lavish attention to the hard peaks as she panted, her luscious hair spilling out on the counter around her. He was hard in his jeans and pretty sure that she had been ready since he’d pushed her up against the sink, but he wanted this to be really good.

He began to unbutton her jeans, pulling them off as he moved down her soft stomach. He nipped each hip bone as the jeans dropped to the ground. He reached down and stripped her panties off, tossing them in the direction of her jeans. When he took a step back to look at his handy work he groaned out loud.

Danneel was spread out on the counter, looking good enough to eat and sounding twice as hot. Her head was thrown back, her neck arched, her chest heaving, her hips shifting as she spread her legs wider for him. He let his eyes follow the natural path down her body to the place between her legs where she was already wet for him.

God, he wanted to taste her. He stepped forward again, leaning down to suck a spot on her inner thigh. She moaned low in her throat and he decided to stop teasing her. He slipped two fingers into her wet heat, spreading his fingers and licking around them to taste her.

Danneel’s hips bucked up and then back down onto the fingers invading her, she moaned at the desire that spiraled out from where Jensen was touching her. He added his tongue into the mix and she almost shot off the counter, purring in the back of her throat and burying her fingers in his short hair.

He had just started to fuck her with his fingers, curling the digits on each upward stroke, when she started to tug on his hair, “Come on, Jensen, fuck me, fuck me…”

He groaned when her nails scraped across his scalp, stimulating him and sending tingling sensations down his spine. He pulled his fingers out, standing up and unzipping his jeans so he could shove them down to his thighs along with his boxers.

Danneel seemed to be in sync with him; she lifted her hips as he moved to enter her, widening her legs to wrap them around his waist as he slid all the way in. She had been looking at him as he got his jeans down, but her eyelids fluttered closed as he began to rock into her. She was so hot and tight, her muscles flexing around his cock.

He tried to go slow at first, strong and steady strokes, but her legs tightened around him and she panted out, “faster, more…”

He answered her, his voice rough, “so tight, so good…”

He picked up the speed, leaning over to thread their fingers together over her head on the counter with one hand. With the other hand he held her hips to the counter as he fucked into her with fast stokes, his hips thrusting at an almost brutal pace as he felt his climax approaching.

Danneel wasn’t complaining, was fighting to meet his every downward thrust with an upward thrust of her own. Her free hand was gripping his shoulder but she moved it to the back of his neck to bring him into a kiss. Their tongues tangled, lips hitting, sticking, slipping.

He knew she was close when her groans turned into breathy, whispered strings of yes and more and oh, oh, oh. Jensen thought maybe he tried to warn her he was close, but then he felt her muscles clamp down on his cock, her hips jerking erratically, as her entire body started to tremble.

He saw white light flash before his eyes as his hips stuttered and he buried himself to the hilt and came hard, a harsh cry that may have sounded something like, “fuck,” left his mouth. They both moved against one another as they rode out their orgasms, breath mingling, fingers clenching and releasing. Jensen felt the hot, sweaty slide in the places where their skin rubbed together.

He collapsed on top of Danneel, trying to stand up and keep most of his weight on his feet, with his head pillowed nicely by her breasts. He tried to think, but his brain was white noise for the foreseeable future. He could feel and hear Danneel trying to calm her breathing and he raised his head to look into her eyes.

He smiled, “You were awesome.”

She laughed, “You weren’t so bad yourself.”

He chuckled, “Thanks, I think.”

She threaded her fingers through her hair, and took a deep breath, “You wanna go crash in my bed?”

Jensen stood up straight, looking down at her naked body still draped over the counter, “I wanna go have round two in your bed.”

Danneel grinned, “Ok… and this time, I can be on top.”

Jensen swiped up his shirt as he adjusted his jeans, “If you insist. I’ll just lie on my back and think of England.”

She threw her tank top at his face, rolling her eyes and snorting, before she walked out towards the stairs. He followed hot on her heels, and they tumbled into bed already tangled together. They managed a round two which was equally awesome, but were both exhausted and fell asleep waiting for Jared, Misha, and Aldis to get home. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The sun was just rising over a gray and misty Scottish morning when Jared snuck into the room and stood by the bed. Jensen was sprawled out on the sheets with Danneel wrapped around him, legs tangled and strands of her red hair trailed across his broad chest.  Jared thought they looked absolutely hot and so absolutely his. He wanted to crawl into bed with them, but instead he closed himself inside Danneel’s bathroom to try and clean himself up first.

He’d gotten most of his clothes off and was working a warm washcloth over a cut on his lip when Danneel pushed the door open, rubbing at the sleep in her eyes. She was naked, which was very distracting.

She saw the rapidly healing bruises on his skin, the dried blood on his lip and cheek, and became much more alert.

She whispered, “Jared, what happened?”

Jared shrugged it off, “It’s nothing Danni, I got into a bar fight. I blame Misha.”

She walked over to grab the rag from his hand, running it over his face for him. Once she cleaned the blood away and touched him with her power to make sure all his other injuries were healing with Vampire speed, she perched on the counter in front of him.

Jared wanted to ask her about Jensen, but she spoke first, “Before you ask, yes it was amazing. But I’m not telling you a damn thing until you drink.”

He huffed at her, “I don’t need to feed Danneel.”

She crossed her arms, “You were the stupid one who got into a bar fight, expending valuable energy…”

He cut her off, “I’m a Vampire,” he waved his hands through the air, “you know, supernatural creature with untold powers of rejuvenation.”

Danneel looked like she wanted to laugh, but remained firm, “and untold appetite, so I’m sure you won’t mind having a little sip just to replenish… especially since you haven’t fed in almost 48 hours.”

Jared grumbled under his breath, but he felt his senses start to stir as Danneel leaned back on the counter and tilted her head back. His gaze went to her breasts, bare and full as she arched her back towards him, and then traveled up to her throat.  Jared felt his gut clench hotly when he saw the fading marks there left by Jensen a few hours ago, red and purple love bites. They would be gone soon, disappearing like all Danneel’s injuries, but for right now they were a powerful reminder of what they all had in each other. 

Jared leaned in and stroked his tongue across Danneel’s jugular, tracing the pulse point as his lips closed around the taunt tendon, sucking. He thought about how Danneel tasted, how she tasted differently depending on how turned on she was. Jared wondered what Jensen would taste like, how he would react to the bite? Most people couldn’t help but become sexually aroused by the act of drinking due to the Vampire allure, but it was possible to fight the allure to some degree.

Jared scrapped his teeth over Danneel’s collarbone. He brought one hand up behind her back to hold her weight and the other he cupped over her breast, squeezing lightly. He really appreciated Danneel’s propensity to sleep naked. He also really liked that he could smell Jensen on her, layered over her own distinct sent.

Jared inhaled sharply, whispering in her ear, “I can smell him all over you.”

Danneel gasped when Jared bent down to close his mouth over one of her nipples, she managed to speak, “Jared, stop fucking around, I’ll have to go back to bed horny after this. Just fucking bite me already.”

Jared looked up into her eyes, smiling mischievously, and Danneel couldn’t help but add, “And of course I smell like him, he fucked me on the kitchen counter. Then we came up here for round two, and I will tell you this for free, he does this thing with his tongue where…”

Jared growled, leaning down and sinking his fangs into Danneel’s neck. He could picture it in his mind, Danneel sprawled naked on the counter while Jensen fucked her. Holy shit it made him burn inside, in a completely good way, it was so hot. Blood lust was riding him and so he sucked harder. Danneel made a pleased, choked, keening noise in the back of her throat. Her entire body went slack and Jared held her to him as he drank.

Jensen tried not to make any noise as he watched with rapt attention from the crack in the bathroom door. He wanted to say that what he saw disgusted him, but he was pretty sure that his rock hard erection was calling him a liar. The way they talked about him, like he was the space between them, but the space was shared, sacred, not fought over. His breath caught in his throat as Danneel’s moans continued for a few seconds until Jared finally pulled away. He licked at the wound on her neck until the blood was gone. 

Danneel’s voice sounded breathy, but irritated when she spoke, “Now I’m really turned on and Jensen’s asleep… and what if he wakes up and we’re fucking like bunnies in the bathroom?”

Jared chuckled, placing lingering kisses across Danneel’s heated skin, “I don’t think he’ll be super mad if we wake him for really hot, awesome sex.”

Jensen pushed the door open before he could really think it through. The old wood door creaked open and Jared and Danneel turned to stare at Jensen’s naked frame in the doorway.

Jensen smiled and cleared his throat, “No, I don’t suppose I’d be too mad if you woke me up for that.”

Danneel narrowed her eyes, but there was a smirk on her face, “Were you spying on us Jensen?”

Jensen shrugged, “Maybe.”

Jared walked over to Jensen, reaching out to grab his wrist and tug him forward to where Danneel was still sitting bare-assed on the counter, “Did you watch me drink from Danneel?”

Jensen walked forward, letting himself be pulled, “Maybe.”

Jared’s eyes had gone darker, his smile more predatory, “I think you were watching, and I think you did see. And I think you enjoyed watching.”

Jared pulled Jensen until he was standing between Danneel’s legs which were spread on the countertop. Jensen had forgotten she was there until he felt a foot slide up and down his leg, while slender fingers reached around to caress his stomach.

He felt Danneel’s breath on his ear as she whispered to him, “I think you wanna know what it’s like…”

Before Jensen could even say whether or not he wanted to know what it was like, Jared’s hands settled on his neck and hip. The taller man was pulling him into a kiss even as he was being pressed back into Danneel. Jensen moaned as Jared’s lips moved hotly over his, possessing and taking. Jensen opened to the assault, tilting his head back and letting Jared’s tongue press inside to taste.

Jared was murmuring things at him between kisses, “I missed you, I want you, so bad.”

Jensen tried to remember to breath, tried to channel his energy into touching every inch of Jared’s skin he could get his fingers on. His hands moved restlessly from the bones of Jared’s hips, to the corded muscle of his back, to the soft stands of hair at the back of his neck.

And still Jared mumbled, nibbling on Jensen’s lip, “Couldn’t stop thinking of you tonight, your smell drives me crazy, I want to taste you, I need to taste you.”

Jensen was so wrapped up in Jared that he jumped when he felt Danneel’s hands finally move from his abs up to his nipples, caressing and then scraping her nails across. Jared moved down his neck, tongue tracing his jugular as Jensen tilted his head to the side. He knew Jared wanted to bite him, but instead he quickly moved on to Jensen’s shoulder blade. 

Jensen pressed up into Jared and then back into Danneel, her breasts pressing against his back. He reached down to touch Jared through the fabric of his pants, his slow brain trying to figure out how Jared wasn’t naked.

He nipped at Jared’s neck and spoke, “Why aren’t you naked?”

Jared stepped back to strip his pants off quickly and when he looked up he froze at the sight in front of him, his blood lust ramping up another notch. Jensen was leaning back on the counter, legs splayed and hands resting on Danneel’s knees which were on either side of his hips. Danneel had wrapped herself around Jensen, her hair spilling over one of his shoulders. She was running her hands all over his body, refusing to touch the one place that Jared knew Jensen wanted her too.

He tried to keep his own raging passion under control as he moved forward again. He stepped into Jensen’s body, loving how their skin felt pressed together. He leaned to the side to wink at Danneel who just grinned before leaning in to kiss him hard on the mouth, her clever tongue brushing against his. When he pulled back he moved to kiss Jensen’s shoulder before going back to his mouth. Jared groaned as Jensen opened for him again, though this time pushing his own tongue into Jared’s mouth to explore.

Danneel reached around wrapping her hand around the tip of both their cocks, trapped between their stomachs, and gave a little twist of her wrist. Jared’s moan turned into a little shout and Jensen gave a surprised grunt as both men thrust up into the tight ring of her hand. Jensen was caught between the heat of Jared’s length next to his and the heat of Danneel’s hand. His entire body was fracturing and he was desperate to keep it together, to make it last. 

His breath caught in his throat and Danneel must have felt his tremors, his readiness, because her hand was speeding up, causing Jared to whimper also. Jensen felt the tip of her tongue tracing the muscles of his shoulder.

When she got close to his ear she started whispering to him, Jesus she had a mouth on her, “you’re so close, I can feel it. Don’t hold it in, I wanna see you fall apart and cum all over Jared so that I can lick it off of him.”

It may have been the image of Danneel’s pink tongue lapping up his cum off of Jared’s abs that sent him over. Or it may have been that, at the exact moment she was whispering dirty talk in his ear, Jared had decided to swirl his tongue into Jensen’s other ear. Either way, Jensen’s hips were thrusting up into Danneel’s hand and he was groaning out his release. He felt Jared shuddering in front of him, their legs tangled together, holding on another up as they panted and licked into each other’s mouths. 

Jensen broke away when he felt a tickling touch on his abdomen. He looked down to see Danneel’s hand between them still, her fingers running along the white painted on their stomachs before disappearing.

Jensen twisted around to see Danneel licking at her fingers, grinning between swipes of her tongue. He wasn’t sure if he groaned louder, or if Jared did. His eyes flicked to the mirror as Jared reached for a towel to clean them off. 

Danneel hopped off the counter when she was done, her body sliding down Jensen’s over sensitive cock.

He groaned, “Jesus, Danneel, give a man a chance to recover.”

She slid out from her spot between him and the counter, smiling at Jared and walking out the door, “You can recover while you lick every inch of my body on the bed.”

Jared spun him around suddenly, from where he was watching Danneel disappear into the bedroom, attacking his mouth while his hands pressed him closer. Jensen molded himself to Jared’s body as their lips slid together. It made Jensen dizzy, excited, and terrified that he was already so caught up in these two people.

Jared pulled away, his fingers trailing down Jensen’s back and over his ass, “come on, we better go service The Queen before she gets annoyed…”

“I heard that!” Danneel’s voice floated in from the bedroom.

Jared and Jensen both laughed as they made their way to the bed. Stretching out, one on either side of Danneel’s prone form, all three of them glowing sinfully in the dim illumination cast by the light filtering in from the bathroom doorway.

Danneel rolled onto her side to kiss Jensen, her full, soft lips meeting his own following the movements as he guided her in a slow, lustful kiss. She brought a leg up, slinging it up on his hip, her smooth calf resting on his thigh. Jensen ran his hands down her side, feeling for Jared. He discovered the Vampire was pressed up behind Danneel, nuzzling her neck and hair.

They moved their hands over her, stroking, caressing, and tickling. Giving her something to move towards for a moment and then wandering away, alighting on a new patch of skin, giving a new sensation. Her body rocked back and forth between them and finally Jensen started to move away from her lips, kissing a trail down her body. He traced his mouth and fingers along her breasts and stomach, licking at Jared’s fingers when his hands moved to grip where Jensen had been moving his mouth a moment ago.

Danneel was making short, high-pitched, pleased sounds in the back of her throat by the time that Jensen reached to dip a finger inside of her. His hand collided with Jared’s and they grinned at each other and nodded, both somehow deciding silently what to do. Jensen slipped a finger into Danneel’s tight heat right alongside Jared’s, her wetness making it easier for them to move their fingers together pressing different points within her at the same time.

Danneel’s leg gripped Jensen’s hip tighter, her hands gripping his shoulders as she arched her neck and thrust down onto their fingers.

She made a humming noise as they both placed fleeting kisses to her face, neck, chest, and shoulder blades, wherever they could reach.

Jensen whispered into her ear, “so wet and needy for us…”

Jared licked at the top of her spine, blowing over the damp skin, his voice rough, “So eager and sexy… you feel so good.”

Danneel opened her eyes, her pupils blown wide, and breathed out, “Stop teasing.”

Jared murmured in her hear, “Just give me a few more minutes Danni. I want to get Jensen ready.”

Jensen looked over at Jared as the taller man rolled off the bed to retrieve something out of the dresser drawer. He made his way over, but to Jensen’s side of the bed, crawling over behind him. Jensen understood and he rolled Danneel under him, keeping his finger inside her and adding another to keep her on edge.

He spread his legs out, pushing Danneel further apart as he went, until Jared had access. Jensen shuddered as Jared started pressing fingers into him, stretching what was already sore. Jared wasn’t giving him much time to adjust, searching out his prostate immediately as he started to add another finger. Jensen flinched at the burn, but cried out in pleasure. He tried to stay focused on Danneel as she yanked him into a kiss and licked into his open mouth as he gasped out his pleasure, Jared ran his other hand up the inside of his thigh and Jensen quivered at the sensations. 

Jensen realized quickly, that the reason threesomes were more pleasurable was because they were more work. He was thrusting back into Jared’s talented fingers, thrusting his fingers into Danneel, and kissing her. All while trying to maintain his balance on his hands and knees, while his brain was short-circuiting. 

Finally Jared leaned over, pulling his fingers out of Jensen and scraping his teeth over the back of Jensen’s neck, “Ok, you can fuck her now.”

Jensen almost cried in relief, so ready to bury his cock between her legs. He didn’t even ask her if she was ready, she sounded ready. Jensen pulled his fingers out, slick with her arousal, and reached to tilt her hips up and guide himself into her. He slid all the way in, moving to rest his hands on either side of her body, supporting his weight. Once he was firmly seated, Danneel already rocking against him and begging him to move, he looked behind him to where Jared waited patiently.

Or not so patiently, Jensen discovered as he watched Jared stroking himself to the sight of Jensen and Danneel pressed together. He moved forward when Jensen told him to though, slowly lining himself up and pushing into Jensen’s tight ass. Jensen pushed back, sliding out of Danneel slightly. He looked down to see that Danneel had opened her eyes, intently watching his face as Jared stretched him open. 

Jensen shuddered when he felt Jared bottom out. Danneel’s hand came up to brush his cheek and skim his hair, light touches that matched the feather soft kisses Jared was pressing to his shoulder blades. Jensen was overwhelmed, feeling Danneel’s muscles clench around him as Jared filled him up from behind. He tried to concentrate on keeping his arms steady as Jared pulled out and Jensen moved with him, and then they both moved forwards. Jensen shoved into Danneel as Jared rubbed across that spot inside of him making Jensen cry out and plunge deeper into Danneel.

They had a rhythm going soon, back and forth, thrusting in and pulling out. Jared’s hands gripped Jensen’s hips tight, his knuckles skimming Danneel’s thighs. Jensen was thrusting in an upward motion trying to hit her g-spot to push her over the edge. She had been close before and she was on the very edge now, griping the sheets as her breath came faster and harsher.

Jensen felt her muscles clench down on him and he was so close to cuming, but he wanted Jared with him. He let Danneel ride out the storm, the noises spilling from her mouth washing over him. When she was done, lying prone and relaxed on the bed with glassy eyes, and trying to catch her breath, Jensen pulled out.

Jared’s hands were immediately pulling him up, hands skimming his chest and abs. He was pressed to Jared, back to front, and he could feel Jared’s cock slip that much deeper as his knees spread further apart. Jensen ached in all the right places, burned where Jared and he were pressed together. He tilted his head back and to the side, aiming for a kiss.

Instead, Jared whispered into his mouth, “Want you, so much, please?”

Jensen licked at Jared’s mouth, not understanding. It sounded like Jared was asking him a question, “Want me? I’m here, right here.”

Jared groaned, his grip on Jensen’s hips tightening, “I need to taste Jensen, please.”

Jensen finally got it when his tongue touched a tooth that was longer and sharper than what had been there a second ago. Jared’s fangs were extended.

Jensen froze for a second, his brain working over time. He couldn’t think past this moment, couldn’t breathe as Jared pounded the air out of his lungs. Jensen could feel how close he was to his orgasm, the slow burn in his body building to a frenzy that made his skin tingle. 

He reached a hand up behind him to curl it around the back of Jared’s neck, squeezing gently, “yeah, I trust you, it’s fine, just please,” he groaned as Jared’s hips rocked forward again, “I’m so close.”

Jared growled, a low sound that made his chest rumble, and Jensen felt a tendril of fear wrap around him. But Jared reached down to grip Jensen’s cock, which was leaking pre-cum, and all rational thought flew out the window. Jensen screamed out as he trust up into Jared’s hand and backwards as Jared’s cock brushed over his prostate on the final thrust. He came, Jared’s name spilling from his lips as little flashes of white light burst in front of his eyes. He was pretty sure that Jared was also cuming, spilling filth into Jensen’s ear as he continued to stroke him.

Jensen started to recover from his orgasm, tried to catch his breath and not lean all his weight back on Jared, when he felt hands pulling him in closer. Jared tilted Jensen’s head to the side and Jensen was too blissed out after his climax to fight him. He moaned when Jared’s lips brushed the side of his neck, and his over sensitive body started to come alive again when he felt the scrape of teeth.

His dick wasn’t about to join the party again this soon, but the rest of his body seemed to be aware that something was going on. His blood was rushing in his veins and it was like his body was ignoring the languor that usually sets in after sex and was trying to give it another go. He gave a lazy moan when he felt Jared’s breath on the side of his neck. 

Jared shushed Jensen with soft noises, his forearm wrapped around Jensen’s waist to hold him close. He held Jensen’s head to the side with the other by gently gripping his hair. Jared could feel all of Jensen’s body pressed up against his, their heated skin still flushed from sex. He could hear Jensen’s blood still zinging through his veins post-orgasm.

Jared couldn’t take it anymore and he lowered his head, sinking his teeth into his mate’s throat. Jensen’s whole body trembled and he hissed for a second at the sting.   Jensen’s body jerked in pain and then relaxed fully into Jared’s embrace.   Jared started to suck and drink, moving his tongue across the skin to increase blood flow. 

Jensen whimpered as his over stimulated body tried to make sense of the pleasure and pain he was feeling. He felt Jared’s arm wrapped around his waist to hold him up, but he couldn’t really get focused past the pleasant sparks shooting down his spine and the tightness in his chest. His vision swam and he heard Jared moan against his throat.

Jared couldn’t take too much, he knew that. It took a lot of willpower to stop drinking. The taste of Jensen’s blood on his tongue was like ice on a hot day and warm whisky on a cold night. He could taste strength, vitality, loyalty, sadness, loneliness, and disillusion. His blood filled Jared with happiness and it made him ache to fill the holes he could sense within. Jared lifted his mouth from the bleeding bite with reluctance.

Jensen wasn’t sure he could open his eyes, but he trusted Jared to take care of him. Letting someone drink his blood, he decided, had been like firing a gun: not something he had ever wanted to find out he enjoyed, but resigned to the thrill it gave him every time he pulled the trigger. Jared needed him, needed this from him, and Jensen had given him more somehow than just blood when he’d said yes.

He felt himself being turned and lowered to the bed, the soft sheets on his damp skin. He felt Jared over him, kissing and murmuring and praising him. He was pretty sure that Danneel was touching him; her healing presence was like smoke to his semi-conscious mind, he could feel it but not grasp it. The last thing he processed before falling into a deep sleep was Jared and Danneel curling up on either side of him. Their bodies and limbs pressed and tangled with his, as if they were all guarding one another even in their sleep. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jensen woke up that evening as the sun was setting. Everything was sore, everything hurt, and Jensen had never felt so good in his life. It was like pushing yourself that extra mile on the treadmill and waking up sore as fuck the next morning, but with a sense of accomplishment. 

Except his sense of accomplishment this evening was compounded by the position he woke up in. Danneel’s leg was thrown over one of his own with her arm curled up over his chest and her face pressed into his shoulder. The entire length of Jared’s body was pressed to Jensen, one of Jared’s big, warm hands spread low on Jensen’s stomach. 

He yawned, stretching without shifting too much but Jared and Danneel were already waking up. Danneel moved the leg she had thrown over Jensen’s thigh, rubbing up and down softly. Jared sniffed, nosing at Jensen’s hair, the muscles of his chest and abs flexing against the side of Jensen’s body. 

They all moved together as they woke up, stretched; it was like an octopus materializing from a coral reef: all slow, emerging, multiple limbs going every which way. The sun had just set and Jensen realized, as he rubbed at the place on his head Jared was currently tickling with his breath, that they had nothing to do and nowhere to go. If they wanted to they could stay in bed all night and do absolutely nothing. Or, have lots of sex. Jensen’s vote was obvious. 

Danneel rolled away from them, standing up to pad barefoot across the room to a large t-shirt thrown on the floor. She slipped it on along with a pair of boxers she found on the floor.

“Where are you going?”

She turned around at Jensen’s question to find that he had rolled onto his side, Jared behind him. They were shamelessly spooning and staring at her.

She grinned at them, “I’m going to get some coffee, bitch.”

Jensen sat up a bit more, “Coffee? Oh, man, I want some of that!”

Danneel started for the bedroom door, shrugging and shooting him a glance over her shoulder, “I may or may not bring you a cup…”

Jensen called out from the bed, a grin in his voice, “I’ll eat you out when you get back with it…”

Danneel had the door open as he said it and she twirled around. Smiling at him she replied, “Would you like cream or sugar with that coffee?”

She heard Jared snicker, but she didn’t care.

Danneel bounced down the stairs to get coffee, leaving Jared and Jensen alone for a moment. 

Jensen hummed as Jared nuzzled his neck where he had bitten earlier. The puncture wounds and bruises had faded thanks to Danneel, and Jared was licking across the spot like a cat and Jensen was starting to fall asleep again.

“Jared?” Jensen’s voice was soft when he spoke.

“Yeah?”

“How do you become a Vampire?”

Jared stopped bathing his throat like a baby kitten to explain, “Well, it’s about a blood exchange. You can drink a Vampire’s blood and nothing happens. Just like I can drink your blood and nothing happens. But, to change into a Vampire I would have to drink all of your blood, or most of it, and then you would have to ingest some of my blood. I’ve never really understood the science behind it.”

Jensen rolls over to look at Jared, “Is it painful?”

Jared shrugged, “I don’t remember a lot of it, just that the whole dying part was really easy, like going to sleep.”

Jensen looked down, “Wasn’t dying scary?”

“Well, maybe if I’d had time to think about it I would have been. But, the Vampire who made me was rogue and they didn’t really give much time to decide?”

Jensen sat up, “What! You mean no one gave you a choice? You were just made into a Vampire? It’s this thing that affects you for _eternity_ and it was just forced upon you?”

Jared sat up and soothed his hands over Jensen’s face, thumbs stroking his cheekbones as he spoke, “Hey, hey, calm down. It’s ok, I’m not upset, I’m fine. Stop freaking out.”

Jensen reached up to still Jared’s hands, it was distracting, “I’m not freaking out. I just think that, you know, if someone is going to die and then live forever- not to fucking mention the whole drinking blood thing- then maybe it should be something they get to think about!”

“It is, it is, I promise, I was one of the last to be made. All the rogues were killed a few hundred years ago, ok?”

Jensen growled, “One, that doesn’t make it any less fair for you! Two, what the fuck is a rogue!?”

Jared sighed, “A rogue is a Vampire who chooses not to face honorable death after the insanity of loneliness becomes too much. A Vampire hasn’t gone rogue since the creation of the pact between the races, and the existing ones where killed off one by one so that they couldn’t hurt or turn humans anymore.”

“So, Vampires aren’t made anymore?”

Jared shook his head, “No, they aren’t. The Council sees no need now that the Givers have bonded with unmated Vampires. No one’s going rouge and if Vampires have Givers instead of mates then there’s no need for the mate to be turned…”

Jensen interrupts, “What do you mean by that? Are you saying that mates have to be turned?”

Jared gives him a little shocked look, “Well, yeah. What do you think happens when a Vampire’s mate gets older and they stay the same age?”

Jensen shrugs, “I hadn’t really thought about it in terms of real time or whatever…”

Jared chuckles, “Jensen, the whole point is to keep you with Danneel and I forever… humans can’t live forever. Back in the old days Vampires turned their mates all the time so that they could be together.”

Jensen’s starting to breath a bit harshly, “Well, if you changed me, as a Vampire, wouldn’t I need a mate too, what if it wasn’t you?”

Jared laughed, “Um, I don’t think it works that way,” his voice dropped low, “and trust me, even if you’re a Vampire, I can still drink from you… you’re my mate… it’s, well, I never said it made a lot of sense...”

Jensen wanted to be turned on, was actually mildly turned on, but he was mostly having a big panic attack. Why hadn’t he thought of this? Where had he managed to practice cognitive dissidence intense enough that eternity with Jared and Danneel didn’t mean that _he_ was going to have to change… that he was going to have to _die_?

He heard Jared calling his name, but he couldn’t answer, he could barely breathe. He needed out, he needed air, he needed to not be here right now talking about death like it wasn’t supposed to be final or irreversible. He was in the twilight zone again. Every time he got his bearings someone turned the room again and he was on the ceiling. 

He swore and jumped when Jared’s hand alighted on his shoulder. Jensen slid out of bed, standing up and darting his eyes around for clothes. He found what he had been wearing last night and threw it on, trying to ignore when Jared scrambled after him and yelled for him to slow down and talk to him.

Jensen made a beeline out of Danneel’s bedroom and into his own. He got a bag and tossed things into it as quickly as he could once he reached his room.  The army pretty much guaranteed to make him a light traveler and now wasn’t any different. He took the packet of shit Aldis gave him when he got here and tossed it in too.

“Jensen, please stop, you don’t wanna do this,” Jared begged him to slow down, hovering around in his space. He was probably really scared and confused, but Jensen was too wrapped up in his own terrible, sinking panic to react to him. 

Jensen just ignored him, moved around the room almost like Jared wasn’t there. He couldn’t breathe and Jared wasn’t helping. Jensen was pretty sure that was what a panic attack felt like, the hyper aware feeling of how tense his body was. His brain was signaling flight mode to his adrenaline system and his chest was burning with restrained energy and agony.

 Jared’s hands couldn’t stay away from his hair, like he was almost pulling it out, a nervous habit that he maybe hadn’t kicked in the hundreds of years he’d been alive- or dead? Jensen’s heart gave a funny little flutter again and his temples throbbed as he thought about how old Jared is. How old Danneel is. God, why hadn’t his fucking rational mind disseminated this information already to the rest of his waking conscious? 

Why did directly applying things like eternity, age, death, and vampirism change when it was all directed personally at him? What had he expected to happen when he knowingly engaged in a relationship with two immortal people? God, he couldn’t breathe.

He had the bag packed and zipped without ever really looking at what he was putting in it. All his energy was focused on distancing himself from Jared. Jensen made his way to the stairs, Jared trailing behind him.

“Jensen, please, think about this. I don’t even know what just happened. Please stop, tell me what I can do. Tell me how I can make it better. Is it the immortality? Is it the drinking blood thing? I’m trying to give you what you need…”

Jensen turned around at the bottom of the stairs refusing to meet Jared’s gaze, his voice was harsher than he meant it to be, “I need to be alone.”

Jared stopped short, his hand falling where he had been reaching out to touch Jensen. Danneel came in from the back of the house, her brow creased at the yelling, two cups of coffee in her hand.

Jensen shook his head and tried to clear it, “I just, it’s not the blood or anything… ok? I just think, that I’m meant to be alone. Maybe the choices that were never presented to you are choices that I’m neither prepared nor willing to make. Maybe…” Jensen sighed, his shoulders falling, “maybe, I’m just always going to let you down.”

Jensen turned towards the door, but Jared growled and reached to grab onto Jensen’s forearm. His fingers pressed into the skin with superhuman strength and Jensen winced at the harsh touch.

Jensen looked down at his arm where Jared’s grip was tightening to a painful level, “do you really want it to end like this?”

His voice was tight and he wasn’t sure of anything anymore except he couldn’t do this and he couldn’t be here. Jared’s eyes were fierce and Jensen wasn’t a good enough liar, even to himself, to be able to convince his own mind that it’s anger and not pain he sees shining back at him.

Jared’s voice is just as tense as Jensen’s was, but much quieter, “I don’t want it to end, period.”

Jensen heard Danneel’s rapid breathing, knew she wanted to interfere but wouldn’t. Jensen was angry for some reason, maybe at himself. He tried to break free of Jared’s grip, but the Vampire was holding on tight.

Jensen narrowed his eyes and went for the low blow, hating himself the entire time, “You promised I had a choice. You said that what I wanted mattered to you. I can’t stay Jared, I tried, but I can’t stay.”

Jared’s eyes fluttered closed and Jensen prayed that he wasn’t going to cry. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he felt the grip on his arm release.

Jared stepped back away from him, motioning to the door, “You’re right, and I will keep my promise.”

Jensen couldn’t even say the words goodbye; he just turned and made for the door. As he closed the door he heard a stifled, pain-filled cry and two cups of coffee shatter on the hardwood floor. 

He just kept walking forward.

He was in the car and halfway out of town before he realized that the panic he felt hadn’t disappeared now that he’d left. He thought he’d feel relieved, but as he drove sadness stole over him and he put the gas pedal to the floor hoping that a car could travel faster than the speed of regret. 

  
  
 [Chapter Seven](http://silver-slashes.livejournal.com/8099.html#cutid1)

  



	9. Your Taste is Like the Wind on My Tongue

  


**Chapter Seven**

Deep in the heart of the Palace, under the ignorant inhabitants of London, a very angry vampire stalked through the halls of marble. Bright flames in glittering torches danced on the walls. The fire stirred in the breeze created as the vampire moved at an unnatural speed towards his destination, patience had never been his virtue. He reached a heavy oak door with ornate gold metal patterns on it. Reaching out a hand he flung the door open and inward satisfied with the resounding bang it made slamming against the stone wall.

The three Seers within the chamber flinched when the door cracked against the wall and a short but imposing man strode into the room, “it’s been almost three days and you’re telling me that you don’t have a location yet,” he barked at them.

A petite blonde stepped away from the glowing basin to address him, bowing before speaking, “Apologies Lord Kripke, however, the world is a large place, and scrying is a tiring task. I have all the best Seers working on locating Ms. Harris. But the sample was very small and it is like searching the heavens for a solitary star…”

The Vampire interrupted her, his tone terse, “I don’t need to hear your cryptic, magic, mortal fortune-teller shit. I just need you to tell me where Danneel Harris is.”

The Seer bowed again, a crease formed between her eyes, but she still said, “We realize that Ms. Harris is an enemy of the races and that she needs to be found. I am doing the best I can m’Lord.”

Kripke seemed to remember himself and he smiled at her, giving her a little half bow, “yes, and The Council appreciates everything that the League of Seers does in service to us, or should I say in service to the greater community of Vampires and Givers.”

The blonde was opening her mouth to speak, when the remaining two women that hovered over the basin of some glowing liquid murmured and then cried out, “Alona, we have found her.”

The silvery liquid had turned blue, swirling around the bowl as the Seers stood around it once more, muttering something before a flash of light pulsed outward into the room. The flash was blindingly bright and all three women were thrown back. They cried as they hit the floor and Kripke rushed to help them up individually, saved by the miniature blast himself due to his distance from the liquid.

As he helped them up he prompted them, “well, what did you see? Where is she?”

The blonde Seer stared at the others for a second before she replied in an even tone, “Harris is in Scotland… Edinburgh.”

He looked perplexed for a minute before he began to chuckle, it sounded evil and wrong, “Scotland? Scotland! Of course that’s where they are! Keep your enemy closer and all that,” he seemed to be talking to himself as he walked to the door.

He turned back for a minute to address the Head Seer, the blonde woman, “You will get us the details of her exact location immediately.”

It wasn’t a question, and the Seer nodded obediently, “Yes m’Lord.”

He nodded, and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

The two other women turned puzzled looks at the blonde, one of them spoke up, “We’re not going to tell him about the other three?”

The blonde turned cold eyes onto them causing both women to cringe backward. Her voice was soft steel when she speaks, “no, we’re not. We are going to tell them only what they ask of us and nothing more. The secrets of the Seers are not gifts to be manipulated for one’s own advantage.”

Her smile was frosty as she fetched a pen and paper to start mapping out the area where Harris and Padalecki are, “The Council thinks that they have everyone right where they want them, but they forget the Seers see everything and anyone that was and is and will be… including the actions of The Council.”

She turned back to the two, who have been listening to her rant in quiet trepidation. The Head Seer handed the paper over to one of the others, “go take this to The Council or their head Hitter,” her eyes sparkled, “and don’t mention what we saw in the basin… we’ll let it be a surprise.”

 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

It has been less than 24 hours since Jensen had left and Danneel was ready to throw a lot of expensive glass items into a lot of cement walls while screaming. She was currently stomping down the stairs towards the kitchen to get a drink at the moment. She needed a break from the abject despair permeating Jared’s bedroom upstairs. 

Misha nudged a cup of very black coffee across the counter when she entered the kitchen and she smiled at him with tired, grateful eyes. Both he and Aldis had been sulking around the house, not knowing what to do or how to make it better. She felt supremely sorry for them; it must be like living in the house of a dying man- which it actually was just like that. 

She sat down at the counter and took a long gulp of coffee, letting the bitter liquid burn her mouth and throat as it went down. She leaned her head on her hand, propped herself up and tried to look less defeated than she felt.

Misha spoke first, “How is he?”

She snorted, “I got him to drink a little bit, but that’s because I cut myself and held my wrist under his nose.”

Aldis made a face, but otherwise didn’t say anything.

Danneel looked back a forth between the two of them, “Why don’t you guys just get outta here, ok?”

Misha crossed his arms, “We don’t mind staying Danneel, we could help you out…”

She shook her head and took another gulp of coffee, “No, you can’t. You can’t help me, I can’t help Jared, and there is absolutely no need for you to stick around and watch him go mad until I work up the courage to… put him out of his misery.”

Aldis spoke up, his voice shaky, “Are you… can you? Kill him, I mean?”

Danneel looked grim, her eyes shining wetly, “If it comes down to him hurting people and me killing him? Then, yes, I will.”

Misha looked her in the eyes, “You don’t have to do it alone.”

Danneel reached over to cover his hand in her own, “Yeah, I know. But, I need to do it alone. I need you both to leave. It will help me, if I know you’re not suffering with me.”

She laughed softly, “This house is like a mausoleum and you didn’t sign up for this. You guys have been great, really, willing to work as a team instead of alone and helping Jared and I,” she smiled teasingly, “but, it’s time to go back to that solitary life of crime.”

Misha nodded, putting his own cup down and clapping Aldis on the shoulder, “Come ‘on man, let’s get goin’.”

Aldis sighed, nodded, and got up to leave. As they left the kitchen Misha turned around to look at Danneel, “You know I told you how to reach me if you ever need anything?”

Danneel nodded.

Misha gave her a small smile, “Remember that.”

It took them a little while to pack their bags and leave, Danneel finished her coffee in silence while they hauled stuff out to the car. Aldis refused to take the computer stuff because he had taught Jared to use it and he insisted on leaving it for him. Danneel thought it was a considerate, if pointless, gesture… like the security system he installed.

Finally she was alone, or as close to it as she could get, in a silent house. Just her and an empty mug of coffee, she stared at it, “I don’t think this is what my father had in mind when he told me to reach for a fulfilling life.”

She chuckled and ran a hand through her tangled hair, “Fuck, I’m talking to coffee cups.”

She sat the cup in the sink and went back upstairs. The sun had been down for a little while but Jared was still lying in his bed, eyes closed, unmoving. It was like watching a sword fight in the moment that one opponent knows he’s lost and the other knows he’s won. Jared had lost the sword fight: knees on the ground, chest exposed, exhausted, resigned, waiting for the sword to slice his skin and pierce his heart. 

She crawled into bed with him, wrapping her body around his and trying to get as close as she could to him. She didn’t even really know at this point if he actually knew or cared that she was there, but she at least felt like she wasn’t useless this way.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Misha and Aldis were only one drink towards drunk at one of the old pubs on The Mile. The Mile was Edinburgh’s oldest street and home to some of the late night places catering to a handful of those famous, late night, Scottish drunks. 

The door opened and another patron shuffled in, heading straight for the bar. He walked to stand beside Misha’s seat at the bar and Misha realized on a second glance that he had a companion with him. They both look agitated and Misha tuned them out as they ordered their drinks.

Aldis was nursing his beer, silent except for the occasional squeaky shift he made on his bar stool. Misha was about to try and draw him back into conversation when he realized that the two strangers on the other side of him had British accents. Which, in and of its self wasn’t weird, but they were chatting up the bartender pretty heavily. For lack of anything else to do, he decided to ease drop a little.

The shorter one was asking all the questions, “So you heard anything about some new rich Lord buying a new country house up this way the past few months? We heard that Edinburgh is the new place to getaway or what have you.”

Bartender shrugged, “Yeah, actually, one of the historic homes ‘bout an hour out of town got bought up. I’d say a few months ago, real quiet like though. Don’t know who lives there, but they keep to themselves, I’ll say that.”

The blonde one muttered something under his breath, but was ignored and the bartender shrugged again and walked away.

The darker one threw some bills on the bar and they stood up, speaking low, “See? This is the fifth bar we’ve been to and no one knows shit about that house or its owners. Which means no one’s going to miss whoever owns it real bad. Not that I thought Padalecki or Harris were the friend making type…”

Misha started at the names, knews now that the house in question must be the one he just left. Thinking quickly, he slipped sideways off his bar stool and knocked into the shorter man. He caught himself by gripping the guys shoulder and exposed wrist. Misha mumbled an apology as the man hissed in discomfort and jerked his wrist away.

He stepped away and his voice was angry, “get your hands off me, you bloody drunk fool!”

Misha smiled and saluted him, still feigning drunkenness, “yessss, ssssir!”

The guy muttered and walked with his blonde friend to the door, exiting the bar.

Aldis slid off his own stool to stand beside Misha, “What the fuck was that all about?”

Misha gave him a grim smile, “I just burned that guy on the wrist.”

Aldis looks confused, “What? How? With what? You aren’t even that drunk.”

Misha held up his right hand, “With my ring, that’s pure silver.”

Aldis looked from the ring, to Misha, to the door and it takes a little while for the realization to hit him, “They were Vampires?”

Misha looked over his shoulder, “Or Givers. Either way, they’ve found Jared and Danneel and they’re going after them. I heard them talking about the house.”

Aldis picked up his jacket, tugging it on, “We’ve got to go warn them.”

Misha shook his head, “No.”

Aldis looked at him like he’d lost it, “What do you mean, no?”

Misha rubbed at his eyes, “We’re already behind them and we don’t have a plan. We’ve got to hope that they’ll hold off whatever they’re planning till tomorrow night and that they’ll just hold Jared and Danneel until then.”

“Aren’t these Hitters operating under more of a ‘kill on site’ kind of philosophy?”

Misha threw some bills on the bar and grabbed his own coat, “Yeah, but I’m betting that The Council’s here this time too and Danneel and Jared said that they like trials.”

“So, where are we going?”

Misha started to make his way to the door, he called out over his shoulder, “To find Jensen Ackles.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

When Jensen heard the doorbell ring his heart gave a little lurch, but he quickly tried to tell himself that there was no way it was going to be Jared.

He doesn’t know if Misha and Aldis were better or worse, “How did you find me?”

Aldis grinned, “You obviously have no faith in me if you don’t think I can’t track a fake identity that I created.”

Misha looked nervous, “Can we come in?”

Jensen pushed the door open all the way and walked back to his couch, “Knock yourselves out.”

Aldis took a sniff, “Why does this place smell like alcohol?”

Jensen just shrugged as he took a swig of whiskey from the bottle on the coffee table, “I don’t know.”

Misha walked up and jerked the bottle away from him, “Are you drunk?”

Jensen frowned at him, “Maybe.”

Misha took the bottle over to the sink and put it down, away from Jensen’s reach for right now, “You, Jensen Ackles, are a walking contradiction, but right now you need to be a sober contradiction, ok?”

Jensen leaned back on the couch, crossed his arms and grumbled, “Why?”

Misha looked at Aldis and then back to Jensen, “Because The Council’s in town and Jared and Danneel are going to die if you don’t help us."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Danneel should have seen it coming from a mile away, because when had her life ever cut her a break. The Council would finally find them at the exact moment in time that Jared couldn’t even be bothered to fight back. She was half way up the stairs from taking another break in the kitchen when the door burst open and quick, dark figures started to enter her house. 

She didn’t even scream, just made a dash up the stairs for Jared’s room to warn him. She was almost to the top when she felt a prick on the back of her neck and she reached around a hand to pluck a small dart out of her skin. As her vision started to swim she realized it must have silver in it. Her only thought was, please don’t let them find out about Jensen.

When she came to she was being held between two of the older Hitters. She recognized both of them from previous jobs her and Jared have been on to stop the assassinations. She blinked a few times because she’s pretty sure that the entire Council was assembled in front of her, but that couldn’t be right.

When her brain stopped being fuzzy she realized that she was not seeing things and that The Council was indeed standing before her, the full council She turned her head to see Jared awake, standing between two other Hitters, Chris in front of him with a silver dagger held dangerously close to Jared’s throat.

Kripke, the Head Vampire of The Council looked her over, “Oh, good, you’re finally awake. I was getting concerned that you’d completely miss all the wonderful festivities.”

Jared voice is pretty monotone when he spoke, like he was uninterested in the proceedings, “How did you find us?”

Kripke’s voice was clipped, “As I was saying when Ms. Harris here decided to join the land of the living,” he chuckled at his own joke, “it seems that you and young Danneel have been trying to thwart our efforts at entrepreneurial expansion for the past few months...”

Danneel smiled, but it fades, “You mean, when you were killing innocent people?”

Kripke doesn’t flinch, “Yes, that one. But, the last time you got into a little fight with my boys and it seems Chris here got some of Danneel’s blood on him.”

Danneel’s breath caught in her throat remembering how he had punched her. How could she have been so stupid? It must have taken the Seers days to scry using that little amount of blood. She looked over at Jared but he was remaining impassive. Good, as long as he looked staunchly impassive, like a rebel, instead of despairingly impassive. 

The Council couldn’t know he had found his mate or that he was already suffering the insanity of the loss. They would use that to torture him. They might even kill Jensen for fun. They would definitely kill him to fulfill the assassination contract. 

Kripke continued to speak while Danneel tried not to panic, “Don’t worry, you’re going to have a fair trial,” he paused and smiled evilly, “and of course you’re going to be found guilty.”

He clapped like it was the ending to a play he liked, “We’ll make the execution quick and simple, just a little decapitation. We’ll tell everyone that you were killed trying to evade capture or something. No one questions us; no one cares about two fugitives.”

Jared hissed, “You know at some point your lies will start to come apart, if there aren’t already those within The Palace walls who know what’s really going on.”

Danneel nodded, “Yeah, like my father knew.”

Kripke turned his gaze from Jared to her, his tone harsh, “Your father didn’t share the same fervor we all had for our great plan. He didn’t believe in our leadership. He had no loyalty… and traitors get what they deserve.”

Danneel didn’t flinch, didn’t blink, and didn’t move. She wouldn’t give any of them the satisfaction. If Kripke thought that the news her father had been murdered would be a shock to her, he had been wrong. She just felt justified, that she had been right all along. 

She looked at Jared, thinking maybe this time he would be looking at her, but he was staring straight ahead. Her heart sunk as she thought that maybe she’d just lost the only real friend she ever had. Because she knew deep in her heart that Jared wasn’t going to fight back no matter what they did to him. But, then she remembered why he wasn’t going to fighting back and she realized that she lost him the minute Jensen Ackles walked out the door. She kind of wanted to kill Jensen Ackles more in that moment then at any other moment in the last few days. 

She straightened her back as Kripke started talking again, never getting tired of his own voice, “the trial will be tomorrow night since it’s getting early and the sun will be up soon. You’ll be bound in silver till then and dosed with liquid silver so that you don’t even try to attempt something stupid like escaping.”

Danneel felt another small prick on the side of her neck and her vision swam again as her veins burn and stung. She didn’t fight the darkness as her body tried to shut down and clean the lethal silver out of her blood. She just kind of wished she gotten to kiss Jared one last time.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 

"This is a gun," Jensen held the semi automatic up in front on him, "this is the trigger, this is the safety, and this is where the bullets come out," he pointed at the barrel, "never point this at something you don't want to kill or maim."

Misha raised his hand looking eager, "Which one was the safety again?"

Jensen just looked at him, holding the gun in a white knuckle grip, "Misha, you know how I said not to point this at anything you don't wanna kill?"

Misha nodded.

Jensen leaned forward, flipping the safety off, "I'm three seconds away from pointing it at you."

Misha raised an eyebrow, "You don't do humor in extreme situations do you?"

Jensen shook his head, "No."

Aldis picked up one of the guns, moving it in his hands as he stripped it, laying out the pieces on the table. Once he was done, he quickly and methodically picked the pieces back together before laying the gun, whole, back onto table. Jensen and Misha just stared, no longer bickering at one another. 

Jensen looked back to Misha and mouth, “What tha fuck?”

Misha shrugged looking back to Aldis a little stunned, " _Who_ are you right now?"

Aldis rolled his eyes, "I like taking things apart and putting them back together to figure out how they work."

Jensen pointed to the gun, "So you decided on weapons?"

Aldis shrugged, "I started with watches."

Jensen stood up and put his own gun down on the table to inspect Aldis's work, "Can you shoot though?"

"I didn't say that," Aldis crossed his arms.

Jensen leaned over the table, putting his hands out to lean on, sighing, "This is suicidal. Neither one of you has ever even pulled a trigger, and I'm just one normal, slow human against a room of Vampires..."

Misha nodded, "And Givers who are trained assassins... don't forget about them."

Jensen groaned, "We're going to go in there like some rookie recruits with a half-baked strategy, and then not only are we going to not be able to effectively rescue Jared and Danneel, we're going to get ourselves killed too."

"Hey, Mr. Black Ops..."

Jensen glared at Aldis, "I was never black ops, I was Special Forces, Army division, and there _is_ a difference..."

Aldis waved a hand, "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say... what I don't think you're taking into account is that Misha and I here have some special forces all of our own."

Misha nodded, pointing to the table with an array of weapons on it, "For example, I have managed to secure a large cache of weapons and specially made pure silver bullets."

Aldis nodded to the desk full of wires and computer equipment, "And I happened to have invented and installed that security system in that house... which they haven't bothered to disable or use, I might add."

Jensen stood up, looking at the electronic equipment, “Why hasn’t the system gone off yet?”

Aldis made a displeased face, “Because it was never activated. I guess Jared and Danneel didn’t bother to turn it on after Misha and I left.”

Jensen muttered under his breath, “That was stupid.”

Aldis sat down in front of the computer, “Well it wasn’t smart, that’s for sure, I even showed them how to press the little buttons on the key pad and everything. And let me tell you, putting that system in was not easy, it took hours of my precious time and…”

“So what can this system of yours do for us now?” Misha cut in, trying to redirect the conversation before Jensen lost all patience.

Aldis shrugged, “Well, that depends on what our plan is. I can remotely activate the system which is going to cause all sorts of problems for the people in the house. I doubt if The Council, even with their modern assimilation of human technology,” Aldis held up his hands to use air quotes on assimilation, “will have someone with them that can even touch my skills.”

Jensen looked sideways at Aldis, “Wow, don’t get all cocky now.”

“Its confidence… there’s a difference. Ok, here’s what we got. Jensen, you and Misha can enter through the front, security will be non-existent because my guess is that they don’t expect Jared or Danneel to have any outside help. You shouldn’t have a problem until you get into the ballroom, or training room, which is, from what I can tell, where everyone seems to be gathering.” Aldis pointed at the blue prints on the screen, “Now, this map of the house is the original blue print. I stole it from the Scottish historical societies archives, turns out our humble abode here is on their registrar of antiquated houses. The only way in and out of the ballroom will be windows and the double door archway leading into the entrance hall here,” he pointed to a spot on the map.

Jensen squinted at the screen, “Well, we’ll have to go in tonight because daytime doesn’t really give us that much of an advantage, especially with Givers there. And, we’ll have to do a hard and fast job because it is essential we catch them off guard.”

Misha stood behind them, his head tilted a bit to the side as he stared at the screen, “If they’re all congregating in one room then it must be for a reason.”

Jensen tried to think back to everything Jared and Danneel had told him about The Council, “maybe because this isn’t a retrieve or kill kind of deal. The Council likes a lot of pomp, but they also still have to operate under the guise of representing the two races, right?”

Aldis and Misha nodded as Jensen continued, “So maybe this is like a mock trial, they’re going to give them the pretense of a fair hearing before executing them.”

Misha nodded, “That makes sense. We can use that to our advantage. If they’re all in one room, then we can take them all out at once.”

Jensen nodded, “Yeah, but how do we kill them without killing Jared or Danneel?”

Aldis started typing, “I think that I can trigger the alarm from outside of the house, it’s pretty loud. The noise might give us a few seconds of confusion to work with.”

Jensen nodded, turning to face Misha, “Didn’t you say that you were able to get a few smoke bombs?”

Misha grinned, “Yeah, at this rocking price too, but he only had like four of them.”

Jensen shrugged, “That should be all we need.”

Misha leaned back onto the table, “So whata’ya thinking?”

Jensen crossed his arms, looking at the weapons on the table, “Well, how do you fight something that has better senses than you? You take away their senses.”

Misha nodded, “I like where you’re going with this, We’re goin’ have to move fast though. We’ve got to be ready by tonight.”

Jensen nodded, picking up a gun and cocking it, “But first, we’re goin’ have to give you a crash course in how to fire one of these things.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

As she stood, weak from all the silver treatment but with her back straight and her head high, in front of the entire assembly of The Council. Danneel wasn’t really afraid to die. All ten members stared unmoved back at her as Sera, Kripke’s companion, read the charges and the punishment. It was pretty much what she had been expecting: treason, sedition, unauthorized uses of magic, failure to adhere to the companion codes, resisting arrest.

She and Jared were not given the option to plead their case, nor was any type of fair representation given to them, which was expected. She watched as Jared stood still and indifferent as the members of The Council all voted guilty on all counts. But, she wasn’t afraid of dying.

Givers didn’t exactly believe in a God, or at least not in just one, but they did believe in magic. Magic was in everything they did, it was in their blood. Magic was those who have gone before and those who have yet to come. It is the pure essence of what it means to be a Giver. Magic was around long before she had been born and it would remain on this earth until even those who are immortal are gone. 

In that sense she could believe that her father was still with her, within her, in her magic. She could feel him inside her every time she healed and it felt like he was still there with her. If death meant a continuation of that, if death meant feeling that kind of peace, then she wasn’t afraid.

Kripke grinned, “It seems we have reached a verdict. However, before we begin the executions, I believe Ms. Harris that someone would like to have a few parting words with you.”

Danneel heard the doors open and the Hitters standing on either side of her eased their grip on her and stepped away. It wasn’t like she could possibly get anywhere in the time it took the other few Hitters in the room to shoot her with a fucking silver dart again. She wondered why they had stepped back when she heard the click of boots on the hard floor.

_Chad_. She whipped her head around to see him striding towards her with a quiet fury that only she could fully appreciate. He had a way of making his displeasure known without ever actually telling her. She had never been afraid of him and she never would be. She had needed him to believe she feared him and it had worked. Now, it looked like he was ready for a little revenge.

He didn’t say anything when he finally came to a stop in front of her. He was frowning, his chest puffed out a little like he did when he wanted to seem important.

She winked at him and put on a chipper voice, “Hi, Honey.”

She didn’t see the backhanded slap coming as it hit high on her cheek and twisted her head sideways. The surprise was the only reason that she made a startled, hurt noise that she soon cut off. She turned back to face him, blood welling up in her mouth from her back tooth slicing into her cheek from the impact. She gathered it all up and spit it as hard as she could in Chad’s face.

He made an angry noise and backhanded the other cheek. She was about to say something about his lack of manhood, when Jared suddenly came to life. He yelled suddenly, throwing off the two Hitters holding him and slamming them to the floor.

He was more alive than Danneel had seen him since Jensen had left and she almost cried for joy when Jared shouted at Chad, “don’t you dare lay a hand on her you asshole!”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jensen held his hand up in a fist, his gaze focused ahead of him at the front door of the house. A door he had just recently walked out of with no intention of ever coming back, maybe, kind of. Of course, he also hadn’t ever thought that his option to return would be pulled out from under him; it was really easy to walk away from something that was difficult when you knew it would be waiting for you to return. Except, Jensen had known when he left that he might be personally sentencing Jared to death. Now, here he was trying to save him. 

Misha crouched beside him, both of them hidden by the hedges, he was whispering on a cell phone to Aldis. Why was Jensen saving them from The Council? They would kill Jared and Danneel, and then Jensen didn’t ever have to worry about the temptation to go back, to give in to what Jared was offering. He didn’t have to think with guilt about Jared wasting away because Jensen couldn’t be what he needed him to be. The Council would deal a quick death and Jared wouldn’t be in pain until Jensen’s absence finally drove him to madness. 

Misha turned to look at Jensen’s profile as he hung up the cell, “Aldis says that he’s finishing up with setting off the alarm. He’ll be ready in about 5 minutes. Basically, go in when the commotion starts.”

Jensen mumbled, “I don’t think I’ve ever infiltrated a building by purposefully setting off the alarm.”

Misha shrugged, “Well, they won’t be expecting it…”

Jensen gripped his gun tighter with one hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose with the other, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

Misha looked at him with too much understanding in his eyes, “You know, just because we fear love, doesn’t mean we don’t still need it or want to protect it. Jared isn’t better off without you and he isn’t better off dead…”

Jensen gritted his teeth, whispering fiercely, “I didn’t ask you.”

Misha narrowed his eyes, “You didn’t have to ask me, I’m telling you because you need to know, because you need to hear it. When you left… Jared, he was, man, it was straight-up painful to watch for the first few days. Danneel finally just asked Aldis and I to leave. I didn’t know what else to do, so we took off to the city. It took a day for us to decide that we couldn’t just leave them like that…”

Jensen broke in, “What happened to no honor among thieves?”

Misha narrowed his eyes in the near darkness that surrounded them and it was hard for Jensen to see his expression, “Just because people do illegal things doesn’t make them thieves, and you of all people should know that both Jared and Danneel have honor.”

Jensen could still feel the pressure on his arm where Jared had grabbed him as he turned to leave. He had watched the struggle on Jared’s face as Jared had tried to let go, to give Jensen free will to leave no matter what it meant to Jared’s feelings or sanity.

“Yeah, I know, it’s just…” Jensen chuckled with no humor, “I can’t wrap my head around this whole thing. I mean, I’m bad at relationships when they involve one person. But, two people! That means double the thoughtfulness and double the communication and double the effort… and what if I’d stayed and Jared had changed me? Then, any mistake I make would be forever!”

Misha nodded, “Or, and just humor me here, you let Jared change you when you’re ready, because he can be pretty patient, and you have forever to get it right, to get through the mistakes _until_ it’s right.”

Jensen opened his mouth to reply but at that moment the alarm went off. It was a piercing, whining, scream issuing from in around the house. 

Jensen smiled, “Show time.”

 

  
[Chapter Eight](http://silver-slashes.livejournal.com/8224.html#cutid1)   



	10. Your Taste is Like the Wind on My Tongue

  


**Chapter Eight**

“What in the fuck is that noise?” The alarm had been going off for a few seconds, loudly and shrilly echoing through the house. But it seemed none of the Vampires of other Givers realized what it was.   

Sera shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe their alarm system has finally decided to kick in?”

Chad sounded pissy as usual, “Or someone set it off?”

Kripke shook his head, “Don’t be stupid, who would be here? Padalecki and Harris don’t have any friends?”

Danneel wasn’t really paying attention; she had no idea why the alarm was going off. What she cared about was the scuffle currently taking place between Jared and Chris. Danneel knew that both she and Jared were dead one way or another, but that didn’t make her any less concerned. Finally, Chris got the upper hand since they had also been pumping Jared with silver and he was weak.

Chris had Jared on his knees, a silver dagger to his throat. Everyone turned back to Danneel and Chad. 

Chad shrugged and slapped Danneel across the face a third time, “The first two were for forgetting who you belong to. And that one was for spitting on me, you fucking whore!”

Jared started struggling against the silver blade that Chris had pressed to his throat again and Danneel thought that Chris looked ready to drive the dagger home. 

She yelled, “Jared stop! It’s ok, I can handle it.”

She put a hand up to the side of her face where it burned and pressed at the skin, the sting was already beginning to fade. But Jared continued to struggle and curse, the knife began to slice into his skin and a thin trail of blood started trickling down his throat.

Kripke stepped forward, ignoring the alarm and shouting over it he held up an imperial hand, “That’s enough Chad! We gave you the few minutes you asked for! It’s time to move on to the execution!”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jensen and Misha moved as one, across the lawn and the driveway, entering the front door with weapons in front of them. Misha was looking to the corners like Jensen had taught him, leading with his gun as his body moved. It was helpful that they both already knew the layout of the house. But there was no one- no guards, no lookouts- it was dead leading right up to the door into the ballroom.

Jensen glanced warily at the light spilling out from under the door, whispering he said, “No guards pretty much guarantees a trap. Infiltrating is never this easy.”

Misha whispered back, “Except when they’re really cocky, immortal, dickheads and they can’t be bothered with early-warning security.”

Jensen waited, listening to the muffled voices inside. His whole body tensed when he heard Danneel’s voice ring out over the monotone, “Jared stop! It’s ok, I can handle it.”

The alarm was blaring in his head, but Jensen could hear struggling now, laughing, Jared cursing- he was ready to bust through the door when he felt Misha’s hand on his arms. He whipped his head around to find Misha shaking his head.

He mouthed at him, “Wait for Aldis.”

Jensen shook himself trying to remain calm. Where was Aldis? Jensen needed to get in that room.

He heard a crash, like glass exploding, and then another, and the hiss of leaking gas. Shouts sounded from within, the noise of confusion breaking out as Jensen looked towards Misha. He gave a nod and they both pulled down their masks, which were gray like the rest of their get ups.

“Remember to yell when you have them pinned to the floor, and then don’t stop shootin’ for nothin’,” Jensen waited just long enough for Misha to nod back and then he slid one of the doors open and slipped in, moving around the perimeter of the room to his right. He could see very little, but he had been trained to see in these conditions. He shouldered his automatic for a minute and drew his handgun, cocking it with a click and crouching low.

He heard struggling, shuffling, a pompous sounding voice that rose above the others, “What the fuck is going on? I can’t see anything?”

Jensen came up on a taller figure trying to see in the smoke, it looked like the same Hitter from the alley that had pinned him to the ground. He didn’t hesitate, just brought the gun up to the guys head and fired. The shot rang out and the guy slummed to the ground.

As the shot died away the room grew deathly still, until someone said, “Who the hell has a gun?”

A woman’s voice rang out that wasn’t Danneel, it was too low, “It’s probably whoever’s responsible for this smoke. Spread out, find him, it’s not like bullets can hurt any of us.”

Jensen grinned at that, bet the bitch didn’t think that anyone busting in would know about silver bullets. He heard two shots ring out in quick succession, hopefully Misha taking out whoever was around Jared and Danneel.

A deep, commanding voice came out of the smoke, “Jared, are these your people? Is it some kind of crack rescue team you have? I mean, what are they going to do besides waste bullets?”

Jensen didn’t hear Jared answer the question, the smoke was starting to thin and vague shadows were appearing. Jensen cursed under his breath, Christ, Misha, hurry it up.

Jensen saw another figure striding towards him, following the wall, and he aimed for the head and fired twice.

He heard a familiar feminine voice cry out and the thudding noise of people falling before he heard Misha call out, “Now!”

Jensen holstered his firearm and quickly switched to his automatic. He took aim directly in front of him and began to fire at chest height. Round after round of bullets sprayed out of the gun as he moved it from left to right around the room. He could make out the shapes of bodies dropping to the floor as the shower of bullets passed over them, riddling their bodies with silver.

When he had used most of his rounds he halted shooting, looking around with a critical eye as the room became visible again. He made eye contact with Misha, who had glanced up from the floor, and nodded that it was ok to stand.

Misha drug himself up from the ground, and the two prone figures on either side of him began to rise too. First Jared and then Danneel straightened up to full height, dusting themselves off. Jensen’s breath caught in his throat. How had he managed to forget in just a few days how incredibly sexy they were. It wasn’t just the smoke that was making his chest burn.

Jensen nodded to them, keeping his gun trained on anything on the floor that moved. It looked like most of the Givers and Vampires were out for the long-haul as their bodies healed. The silver bullets had managed to strike in vital locations on all their bodies.

He grabbed swords off the wall and started tossing them at Jared, Danneel, and Misha, “Start severing heads, we need to make sure that they’re all really, really dead before we set this place on fire.”

Neither Jared nor Danneel spoke to him; they both seemed a little stunned at what was happening and if they were feeling anything like him at the moment, then they didn’t know what to say. He watched as Danneel went up to the first downed body, staring at it for a few seconds. Finally, she raised her sword over her head in two hands, and with a cry brought it down. The cut was clean as the sword slid through flesh and bone, finally hitting the floor with a thunk and clang. 

Danneel wiped the back of her hand across the blood spatter on her face and said, “I am not a possession.”

Jensen looked back at the body on the floor, surveying the severed head more carefully, that must have been Chad. Really Jensen thought, as a dark red stain started creeping outward from where the body lay, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

After that, they all just kind of started making their way around the room swinging swords and cutting off heads, kicking them away from the bodies just to be sure. Jensen felt a bleak satisfaction deep in his chest as he sliced his blade through skin and sinew and bone. Blood splattered all over his exposed skin and clothes but he just kept going, moving from one body to the next. Jensen felt eyes on him as he worked, but he ignored it.

As they were finishing up, Aldis walked into the room carrying a canister of fuel in each hand. He whistled low as he looked around at the blood and debris and the still faint whiffs of grey smoke in the air.

“Wow, this looks like an air-raid zone after the planes fly over…”

Jensen shrugged, swiping his forearm across his face, “I’ve seen worse.”

Aldis shuddered, “I don’t wanna know.”

Jensen just nodded, pointing towards the gas cans, “Start pouring that around the edge of the room and over all the bodies.”

He looked around the room towards the others, “Did we get them all?”

Misha glanced at Jared and Danneel and then back to Jensen, “Yeah, I think we did.”

Jensen nodded, “Ok, let’s regroup outside by the cars. If anyone needs something from the house grab it quickly because this place is going up in flames.”

Jensen was the last to make it to the doorway. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a lighter. He flipped it open, thumbed it on so that the flame burned bright and tossed it into the room. The gas on the floor ignited and began to spread and Jensen turned to leave, closing the door to the ballroom behind him.

He made his way outside, ignoring everyone else whispering around him. A few minutes later he leaned up against one of the foreign cars in the driveway, trying to clean the blood off his face. His hands were shaking but he didn’t think that it had anything to do with the blood or the adrenaline. 

Jensen heard a voice, “So, I’m guessing that Aldis did the alarm and tossed the smoke bombs. And Misha must have gotten you all the weapons and silver bullets. But, I’m also pretty sure that the execution was all you.”

Jensen looked up to see Jared standing a few feet away, leaning towards him slightly, but keeping his distance, as he tried to act natural, “Yeah, my new nickname is Mr. Black Ops apparently.”

Jared took a step forward, his smile faltering, breathing out a sigh, “Jensen, you didn’t have to come.”

Jensen glanced away, unable to look into Jared’s eyes, “Yeah, I did.”

That’s when Jensen saw the dry blood dripping from the cut on Jared’s throat. There’s also a nasty burn where someone had held a silver knife to his skin. 

Jensen took a step forward to inspect it, “You’re hurt…”

Jared took a step back, holding a hand out, his voice raised, “Don’t touch me!”

Jensen stopped dead in his tracks, a dull ache taking up residence in his chest as Jared’s command struck right through his defenses, like a sucker punch to his gut. He almost couldn’t breathe as he stepped back. He tried not to look wounded because he knew he didn’t have the right.

Jensen nodded, trying valiantly to meet Jared’s eyes, “Ok, I, um, understand, you don’t want me touching you. I get it. But, at least let Danneel look at it, ok?”

Jared sighed, but didn’t move towards Jensen, his body tense, “No, it’s not, Jensen, I could never be angry with you. But, seeing you again, it’s a lot, and I want…” Jared waves a hand in Jensen’s direction, “I want everything, and I’m trying really hard to stay over here. If you get closer, I can’t keep my promises about giving you a choice.”

Jensen promised himself he was through making irrational decisions. Well, first there was having a threesome with magical beings, then there was leaving said magical beings and striking out on his own with really nothing and no one to his name. And, then, there was the crack team rescue mission that he thought he might die on. But, after that, he had promised he wouldn’t make any more irrational decisions. 

The army had taught him that irrational actions could get you killed. But, so could predictable maneuvers. Why was he even standing in this driveway, in front of a house he had just set on fire, talking to a Vampire? How had the rational decisions in his life brought him to this point? The short answer, he decided, is that they hadn’t. Some random acts of fate had deposited him in this new, strange reality where he was being handed a do over.

And he was running from it. He was running from it so fast he couldn’t see the world around him. He had gotten scared and overwhelmed and so he had taken the one good thing to ever happen to him, and he had destroyed it. Now, he wanted it back. He wanted laughter and comfort, hard angles and soft curves, and just more in his life than what he thought he had been okay with just a few short days ago.

Jensen realized, standing there in the dark of the driveway, that he might actually need Jared in his life as much as Jared needed him. The anxiety that he thought was a natural reaction to life-altering, stressful events seemed diminished in Jared’s presence. It was like slipping under water; you’re terrified because you can’t breathe, and what if you can’t get back to the surface? But then you’re suspended in cool, relaxing liquid and you want to stay there forever. 

Jared wasn’t just offering Jensen a quick swim, a plunge under the surface only to reemerge into hot unforgiving air, he was offering him a way to breathe underwater… for eternity.

He wants that life in the water- suspended, happy, and protected. All he had to do was convince Jared that he _did_ want back in and that he didn’t want to keep hurting him. Because the fucked up thing was, was that no matter how many times Jensen changed his mind and left Jared; hurting him only to come back asking for forgiveness- he knew Jared would take him back. Because he was Jared’s mate, because Jared would do anything, suffer anything, for him.

But, just because he could do that, doesn’t mean he should. Jensen needed Jared, he needed Danneel too actually, but he really needed Jared in a way he couldn’t comprehend. Jensen leaned forward, away from the car he’s propped up on, and held out his hand. 

Jared stood frozen to the spot, afraid to move for fear of spooking Jensen. He wanted to laugh that he was actually comparing his mate to a frightened animal, but it was true. Jared could remember so clearly now the absolute pain, the pressure, that had come at him from all sides and hadn’t let up. From the minute he had released Jensen’s arm to this moment. 

He could clearly see that Jensen was standing before him, healthy and unharmed, and Jared’s chest was surprisingly light and pain free. But he knew the pain now, knew the rejection that circled him like a rabid dog, ready to attack at a moment’s notice. It was why he couldn’t let Jensen get too close, why he was petrified that his mate would walk away. Jared was trying to be as unthreatening as possible hoping that Jensen would stay just a little longer.

Jensen held a hand out towards him, like he was the one coaxing a timid dog to his side, “Hey, Jared, please, just, would you please come over here,” Jensen smiled, “I promise I won’t bite.”

Jared tried not to smile, he manages a gruff, “That’s not funny.”

Jared stepped closer, but stopped just shy of letting any part of his body touch Jensen’s, “I’m making an effort and you’re just making it harder.”

Jensen’s scent swirled around him, stronger now that they were closer, and Jared could feel his body start to thrum with anticipation for something he won’t allow himself, yet.

He lowered his voice, so that he was almost speaking to himself, “’It’s cruel.”

Jensen flinched like he’d been kicked. He knew that Jared was telling him the truth. Jensen acted selfishly and without regard for what would happen when he left. He couldn’t keep changing his mind, what he decided now would be it. 

Jensen nodded, “I know, I know I was cruel and thoughtless. But I was so scared Jared and confused.”

Jensen cleared his throat and continued, “But, I know now that this is a chance to start over, a chance to have what I’ve wanted for a very long time now. I’ll be honest; I’m terrified of the unknown, the idea of eternity, but the other option of being alone for the rest of my mortally-short life is just as terrifying.”

Jared looked up, his face hopeful despite his resolve to keep it neutral. He knew he’d take Jensen back no matter what, but he’d like to at least try and not look like a complete push-over.

Jared looked Jensen in the eyes, “You realize that every time you change your mind and walk away, it hurts me. That’s not a metaphor… your absence literally causes me pain.”

“I know, and I’m not leaving…”

Jared cut in, “Don’t say things you don’t mean.”

Jensen gestured with his hands, “I do mean it though! I came back, didn’t I? I came back for you… and Danneel.”

Jared rubbed at his eyes, tired with the approaching dawn and the stress of the evening and the emotional turbulence of seeing Jensen again. His voice was strained, “you can’t keep coming back though. Sooner or later the pain and the insanity will be too much for me and you won’t have me here to come back to.”

Jensen straightened, gritting his teeth, “No, I can’t stand the thought of you dying. When Misha and Aldis told me what was going on, I came as soon as I could.”

Jared threw his arms open, “You knew what would happen to me when you left! You knew what walking away from me would mean and you still did it! Why did you even feel the need to save me from The Council?! So I could suffer your absence the long and proper way?!”

Jensen shook his head, no that wasn’t what he had wanted. He needed Jared to be alive. He had tried really hard not to think about how Jared’s death would be his fault. 

Jensen looked down, “I couldn’t let you die. I thought that maybe my fear would overpower my guilt, but then I thought of The Council hurting you and I had to do something. Then, I realized that I was just preventing something that I was also causing… It just, look, I’m not saying that I’m not confused or fucked up, but I know now that…”

Jared shifted his weight, and Jensen saw a tiny spark alight somewhere in the depths of those hazel eyes, “You know what?”

Jensen took a deep breath; his hands were shaking as Jared’s gaze focused directly on his, “I know now that I love you. I finally feel, in my life, that I’m where I’m supposed to be, not on the road to where I’m supposed to be. And I feel that way with you. And I don’t know anything except that you make me laugh and you make me relax and you make me feel wanted…”

Jared was trying so hard to cling to the thin thread of control as all the things he’d ever dreamed his mate would say to him just flowed out like song. But, he had to be sure. He had to hold back until he knew that Jensen had thought this through.

Jared’s voice was heavy with emotion when he cut in, “What about immortality? You’d have to become a Vampire too. I can’t change what I am. Is that going to send you running again?”

Jensen ran a hand through his hair, and blew out a breath, “I’m not going to lie, it scares the hell outta me. But, I trust you and Danneel to help me through it,” Jensen shrugged, “I was willing to die for the safety of millions of people I’d never met when I went into the service. Why shouldn’t I be willing to die for someone I love? Especially if it’s not really, you know, permanent.”

Jared made a small sound somewhere in the back of his throat, his body still even while his brain sped along at scary processing velocities. In the end his entire being was screaming one cohesive thought at him- Jensen _loved_ him.

Jared smiled, “I love you too.”

The look on Jensen’s face, which was somehow between dawning happiness and mild disbelief, made Jared want to run really fast for a really long time just to escape from the overwhelming feelings of affection swamping his system.

Instead he moved forward quicker than the human eye could see, propelling Jensen into the car behind him. Jared pressed him up against cool metal as the night sky twinkled above them, his body leaning into Jensen’s. Every part of him was plastered against the other man as Jared wrapped his arms around him, buried his nose in his hair to inhale his scent. 

Jensen was insanely caught up in Jared as the Vampire pinned him between himself and the vehicle. Jensen wanted to live in that space, sharing Jared’s body heat as their hands explored one another. Jensen felt hands under his ass, lifting him, and he wrapped his legs around Jared’s waist, still running his fingers through Jared’s soft hair. Finally, they both turned their heads just right and their lips slotted together, moving restlessly, relentlessly over one another. Jensen tried to press himself even closer as he opened his mouth to let Jared sweep his tongue in, stabbing and swirling over Jensen’s own tongue and teeth.

Jensen groaned as Jared broke away to move down to his neck, licking and sucking a path until his lips hovered over Jensen’s jugular. Jensen was pretty sure that at any minute Misha or Aldis or Danneel were going to walk out and see them, but he didn’t care.

Jensen tilted his head to the side, grabbing the back of Jared’s neck and squeezing. He was trying to say with his body how much he _needed_ Jared to bite him, to drink, to take, but his brain was short circuiting around word formation.

Jared was on board though, his fangs sliding out as he growled and sunk his teeth into Jensen’s neck. Jensen shouted, his body jerking in pain, his legs tightening around Jared’s waist, and his grip constricting where his hands were buried in Jared’s hair and his shirt. Jensen had thought that just maybe the bite was only pleasurable when done after sex, when the body was relaxed. 

But that didn’t seem to be true at all. His muscles started to tingle as a familiar feeling started to build at the base of his spine, he groaned. His vision swam with red and white, bright blue sparks of light erupting behind his eyelids as Jared drank and his tongue moved over the skin on Jensen’s neck. It was nothing, and everything, like the first time. Jensen couldn’t get enough air, couldn’t stop whimpering or thrusting his hips against Jared’s. 

He was getting a little dizzy, and maybe Jared was taking too much, but he could really care less at this point. He just wanted the sensation, the closeness, and the bliss to last for a bit longer. But, even as Jared’s hips thrust back to meet him, as they strained to get ever closer to one another, he was pulling his fangs back and licking at the wound to clean it. 

Jensen whimpered at the loss of moist heat as cool air hit the side of his neck. He could barely stand; he wasn’t sure if that was exsanguination or that being pressed against Jared made him numb with pleasure. Either way, Jared and the car were supporting most of his weight as he put his legs back on the ground; which was handy when Jared kicked his legs further apart. At first Jensen was a little confused why, but then Jared grabbed his left leg hoisting it up and around his own waist so that their lower bodies shift into alignment. 

Jensen groaned as Jared started to rock into him, every slide of their denim covered cocks together sent bursts of electricity up Jensen spine and exploded in his chest. Jared was making hot needy noises into his mouth, not kissing him really but nipping and licking. Jensen rocked back against Jared’s thrusts, searching for that release, chasing it. He could feel the heat coming from their bodies, or maybe that was the house slowly burning behind them? Jensen needed it to be over and he needed it to last forever.

Jared growled suddenly, lifting Jensen up against the car and shoving his other leg up to wrap around his waist again. He shoved a hand roughly up under Jensen sweater, his fingers skimming over sensitive skin and Jensen’s breath caught in his throat before rushing out in a low cry.

Jared made a humming noise and licked at Jensen’s collarbone, “I love it when you make those sexy little noises for me… missed them… missed you.”

Jensen groaned, his head falling back against the roof of the car, he couldn’t fucking breathe and it was awesome, “Jared, I need, I want… ugh, please.”

Jared’s hips snapped back and forwards, pushing into Jensen’s groin faster until Jensen was sure he would have bruises later and he just didn’t care. He was impossibly hard and his jeans were tight and the friction was so good. And then Jared was kissing him, thrusting his tongue into Jensen’s mouth like a promise, like a reminder, and Jensen was coming. 

He was coming in his jeans and it was going to be a sticky mess later, but what the fuck ever. Jared was shuddering and moving against him, losing it right along with Jensen, and they were moaning into each other’s mouths as their lips moved hungrily against one another. 

They pulled away from each other after Jensen was pretty sure he could stand on his own and he smiled at Jared before trying to adjust his disheveled clothes. They both looked thoroughly debauched, standing outside a burning house, still covered in blood that wasn’t their own, but Jensen was warm inside despite the chilly air. 

The front door opened, smoke starting to poor out, as Misha and Danneel came out carrying a few bags which they tossed in the trunk.

“Where’s Aldis,” Jared asked.

Misha nodded to the house, “He’s grabbing some equipment, he shouldn’t be long, it’s getting pretty bad, fires starting to spread.”

Just then Aldis sprinted out, his shirt covering his mouth.

Danneel was throwing bags in the trunk of a car, “Can we please get the fuck outta here? I really don’t like fire…”

Jensen leaned down to look into the window of a car beside him, he stood up, “Looks like they left all the keys in the cars, so I guess we can just take which ever ones we want. Where are we headed to?”

Jared shrugged, “For now? Away from here.”

Misha open the door to a black BMW, “Why don’t we meet back up at Jensen’s new apartment in town and then decide what we’re going to do.”

Jared turned his head to look at Jensen in confusion, “You got an apartment in Edinburgh? That’s not very far away is it?”

Jensen nodded, “If by ‘not very far away’ you mean ‘not very far away from you’- then you would be right.”

Jensen ducked his head, “I just wanted somewhere temporary, signed a 3 month lease, and spent every waking hour of the last few days trying to decide what to do with my life… as Jake Gray.”

Misha laughed, “Yeah right… he was a fuckin’ mess when we showed up, after only, what, three days?”

Jensen shot Misha a look, “Shut the fuck up…”

Misha just laughed.

Danneel slammed the trunk of their own car, “What is all this talk about ‘we’?”

Aldis looked across the hood of the car at Misha, he had just finished loading the back seat with a bunch of stuff, “You aren’t getting rid of Misha and I that easily, we go where you all go for now. You obviously need us in your lives… if tonight is anything to go by.”

Misha grinned, “Plus, what the hell else have we been putting our skills towards lately if not to help you idiots out?”

Danneel put her hands on her hips, “Yes, that’s all very well, but I wasn’t exactly talking to you two,” she turned her head to stare pointedly at Jensen, “so I’ll ask again, what’s all this ‘we’ shit?”

Jared moved to stand half in front of Jensen, like he could shield Jensen from her death glare, “Danneel…” Jared pitched his voice low, but Danneel interrupted him.

“No Jared, just no, I have a right to my say and he,” she pointed at Jensen, “is going to hear it!”

Jensen stepped out from behind Jared, “It’s ok, Jared, I deserve this…”

Danneel crossed her arms, “You’re damn right you deserve it. Do you know what it was like when you left? Do you have any concept of what _he_ was like?” She pointed at Jared, “I had to watch him fall apart right before my eyes: apathetic, depressed, in pain. He wasn’t drinking or talking or really moving.”

Her lip quivered for a minute but she steeled herself against crying, “And I had to sit there and watch it happen. There was nothing I could do except try to draw him out, try to talk to him, let him know he wasn’t alone, beg him to drink. The one thing he needed, the one person he needed wasn’t there. You left us and…”

Jensen watched as Danneel got really worked up, her whole body seemed to shake with angry energy, “… and I spent every minute praying you would come back, that you would come to your senses!”

Jensen couldn’t look her in the face anymore; his entire body was kind of hunched in slightly like he was guarding himself against her words like physical blows. 

She kept going, even though everyone was looking awkwardly away at this point, “then, on top of everything else, The Council finds us and, if you can just imagine for a minute the reasons behind this, Jared just gives in, doesn’t even fight it…”

Jared growled a warning, “Danneel, stop it…”

Danneel shouted at him, “Fuck you, Jared! He gets to know everything!”

She turned her eyes back around to Jensen, who had looked up at her when she started talking about The Council taking them by surprise, “I mean, it’s like he wanted to die!” 

She gestured to Jared, “I mean, why would he let the Hitters take him so easily if not to assure that he gets executed. Let The Council cut his suffering short with their sham of justice. You’d think he had a death wish!”

She ran her fingers through her hair, her voice going flat and tired, “Do you get it now? Is it starting to sink in how important you are? How much influence you have?”

Jensen straightened up, “I know.”

Danneel shrugged, “Do you?”

Jensen stepped forward, moving around to stand directly in front of her. He reached out to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear, half expecting her to turn away from him or smack his hand away. But she just leaned into his touch as he trailed his fingers down the side of her neck.

He cleared his throat, trying to ignore their audience, “I know you trusted me not to hurt him, not to hurt you…”

She opened her mouth to protest but he cupped her cheek firmly, “Don’t try to pretend you weren’t invested despite your absolute insistence that it was all about Jared.”

She looked at him before glancing away and he chuckled, “Like I said, I know you placed your trust in me, and I know I let you down. But, I’m going to spend the next,” he thought for a minute, “millennium or so, making up for it.”

Danneel sighed, “I know that we asked a lot of you and maybe that wasn’t fair. But, we have to all be on the same page. We all have to be honest when it’s getting to be too much, or when we need more of something.”

She looked over at Jared, “Deal?”

Jensen looked over his shoulder to where Jared was standing, “Deal?”

Jared smiled, his muscles still tense from watching them fight, “Deal.”

Jensen turned back around, leaning in quickly and pressing his mouth to Danneel’s. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her smaller frame to his as their lips met in a heated kiss. Her mouth was soft and warm, opening lazily, almost hesitantly, to his. He slipped his tongue inside, stroking her’s as she reached out to meet him, dueling and tangling together as their mouths slid over one another. She sucked on his tongue and he groaned, pulling away before he just laid her out on the trunk of the car and… well, he couldn’t really think about it either if he wanted to be able to walk comfortably.

Misha cleared his throat, “Well, I could use a drink.”

Aldis nodded as they slipped into the car, “I could use three drinks.”

Jared grinned at them, “We’ll meet you at Jensen’s I guess.”

Jensen nodded, “Yeah, I have plenty of alcohol there.”

Jared crossed his arms, frowning, “That was your plan, get roaring drunk?”

Jensen shrugged, “It worked for the first 24 hours…”

They all piled into the car and Danneel slipped behind the wheel. She looked in the review mirror at Jared, “There’s a blanket back there, the sun will be rising soon.”

Jensen turned around from the front seat to grin at him, “Yeah, I’d rather you remain smokin’ hot, instead of just smokin’.”

Jared gave him a wry grin, “Oh, you’re such a laugh riot; you know I don’t actually burst into flames in direct sunlight… I just get severe looking sunburn…” he threw the blanket over his body and lay down across the seat.

   
[Epilogue](http://silver-slashes.livejournal.com/8577.html#cutid1)

  



	11. Your Taste is Like the Wind on My Tongue

  


**Epilogue**

Jensen tilted his face up to the tropical morning sun. It was sad to think that soon the sun would burn his skin and sting his eyes, instead of just flooding him with warmth and contentment. Sure, he can still see the sun technically from the safety of the shade, and he can still feel heat. But, it just won’t be the same. The sun is only mid-way through the lengthy list of things he’d miss when he became a vampire. 

But when he looked at his mental list for things he’d miss if he stayed human, Jared and Danneel were at the top… actually, they were the list. So, it was a really moot point. Jensen smiled and thought how unfair it was that Danneel could walk in the sun. He felt a chill in the air, winter in the tropics, and knew that the sun will be setting soon. The afternoon heat diminishing as the sun sunk in the sky.

Jared will be up soon, probably Danneel with him. Jensen had taken to waking up just a little earlier to bask in the sun. He stood up with a little stretching and a lot of effort to go start a pot of coffee for Danneel in the kitchen. 

Jensen had the local paper spread out on the breakfast table, which he could only kind of read with his high school Spanish, when he felt small, feminine hands run along his shoulders and down his chest. He thought they were going to stop but they just keep going until Danneel’s fingers squeezed him through the thin cloth of his boxer shorts.

Jensen jumps in surprise, laughing as he playfully swats her away, “Whoa there, tiger!”

Danneel’s laugh is throaty and she still sounded a little asleep. She poured a mug of coffee and sat down across from him. Her feet go immediately into his lap and he started rubbing them absentmindedly.

She hummed as he worked a particular spot on the arch of her foot, “Oh baby… this is why I keep you around.”

He laughed, “And here I thought it was because I was funny and charming.”

Danneel pretended to think about it, “No, mostly just this.”

A deeper voice floated across the kitchen, “And really great sex… don’t forget really great sex.”

Jared sauntered into the kitchen and flung himself down into a chair at the table. He reached out to touch Jensen’s cheek, feeling the warm, sun kissed skin.

He smiled knowingly, “You were out sunbathing again?”

Jensen ducked his head, “What? No. I mean, kind of. Sunbathing sounds so girly. I was out catching some rays.”

Danneel snorted into her coffee but otherwise remained quiet. Jared gave Jensen a little sad smile, like he knew why Jensen couldn’t seem to get enough of the sun lately and he didn’t know how to make it better.

Jensen had already made up his mind though, and he wanted Jared to believe him when he said things. It’d been a long few weeks and months trying to build back that trust he shattered in a record few days. 

Jensen smiled, a genuine smile, at Jared, “Remember, we agreed, and I’m ready. In just a few short months as the summer comes to an end and the nights get longer.”

Jared smiled back, “I know. I can’t wait.”

Danneel mumbled into her coffee, “You can’t wait? I can’t wait! I get to be the ‘all you can eat buffet’ for two hungry Vampires. It’s going to rock!”

Jensen switched to Danneel’s other foot, “Your mind is a twisted place, you know that?”

She smiled, “I’m not the one who decided to move to a tropical paradise like freaking Peru to become a creature of the night.”

Jensen shrugged, “It seemed like a good idea at the time. Anyway, we can move again in a few months if we want to.”

Danneel grinned and wiggled her toes at him, “well, haven’t you just become the international jet setter?”

Jensen just shrugged, “your lifestyle, not to mention the money we have in investments alone…”

Jared whistled, “Misha and Aldis do know how to take money and make it multiply… mostly legally…”

Jensen and Danneel chuckled, “yeah, anyway,” Jensen continued, “now that I can, I have been tempted with the lure of world travel. I used to want to travel when I was younger,” he made a face; “but the traveling I did while in the service wasn’t exactly touristy or relaxing.”

Danneel nodded, “I hear Rome is _che bello_ in the spring time!”

Jared laughed, “Yeah, well, good luck getting Aldis and Misha to agree to your travel plans. I think they really like Peru. They discovered a nude beach yesterday.”

Jensen and Danneel both burst out laughing, Jensen pretended to cringe, “I don’t even want to think about the words beach and nude in relation to Misha and Aldis.”

Jensen got up to put his coffee cup in the sink and he grabbed Danneel’s too. He decided to head upstairs to take a shower. He didn’t bother telling Danneel or Jared, they’d follow if they wanted to. The bed room was dark, no lights except for the moonlight spilling in from the large window that got opened every night and closed during the day. He flipped the bathroom light on so he could brush his teeth and start the shower so it would get warm.

Jensen could feel the warm breeze coming in from off the ocean and floating into the window. The air is muggy, but a born and raised Texas boy could give a shit about heat. Summer in Texas is like living on the sun. He stepped into the shower and made the spray a bit cooler, thinking about the dry heat of his home state made him that much hotter.

By the time he had managed to get out of the shower and towel off, Jared and Danneel had made it back to the bedroom and had gotten as far as the bed. Their clothes were scattered on the floor. Jensen grinned as he watched them rolling around on the bed trying to one up the other. Jared was the clear winner but only because he cheated by wrestling Danneel underneath him and then biting her shoulder.

Jared sucked on the area for a few seconds and Jensen thought maybe he had actually drawn blood. But then Jared’s lips came up off the skin and Jensen saw a small hickey forming on Danneel’s skin. It was a favorite past time of Jared’s, sucking love marks into Danneel’s skin, he liked to watch them bloom in red and purple before slowly fading as her magic healed the abused skin. 

For reasons Jensen could hardly imagine, like it was that hard to figure out, Danneel never seemed to mind Jared’s little hobby. Currently she was moaning under him and running her fingers through his hair and down his back as Jensen stood watching from the bathroom doorway. Sometimes, at first, he liked watching Jared and Danneel move together. 

He maybe had a better understanding now of what Jared sees when Jensen and Danneel fight with swords. Watching two beautiful people merge together, slide against one another, in passion and heat; knowing you can join in at any moment, yet daring yourself to hold out just a little bit longer. 

It made his blood rush and his head swim when Danneel rocked her hips up into Jared’s because Jensen knew what that felt like. It made his breath quicken and his skin itch when Jared covered Danneel’s mouth in a deep, sloppy kiss because Jensen definitely knew what that felt like too.

The towel slid to the floor as Jensen walked to the bed and climbed onto the mattress. His weight barely settled before Jared sat up on his knees and turned towards Jensen to reach out an arm, beckoning. Danneel moved to sit up against the head board, their shared signal that she’s ok with watching for a bit.

Jared pulled Jensen into him until their bodies were aligned and their cocks were sliding together. Jensen moaned as his hot skin made contact with Jared’s cooler skin. The vampire hadn’t fed in a day or so and his skin wasn’t as warm as it normally was. Jensen wanted to fix that, though it was nice having his own personal ice pack in these tropical temperatures.  

Jensen felt Jared’s abs fluttering and the shiver that passed through him when Jensen brushed his lips over Jared’s own throat, turning the tables a bit. He opened his mouth to trace the tip of his tongue just underneath the outline of Jared’s jaw before nibbling his way back down to broad shoulders. Jared fingers were pressed into Jensen’s skin all over, finding secret places to slide along the expanse of Jensen’s body. Jared had a way of finding buttons Jensen didn’t even know he had, like having the center of his palm licked or the hint of nails scraping across his lower back. 

Finally their mouths met, tongues touching first and sliding together before lips catch and pull. Hungry sounds made but never reaching the air, just escaping one throat to enter another. Jensen pulled his mouth away to breathe, sucking in air and tilted his head to the side to give Jared access and looked at Danneel.

He grinned when he saw she was already touching herself, stroking her inner thigh with one hand almost absentmindedly. She looked amazing with her slim waist and curvy hips snuggled into the pillows. Jensen locked gazes with her, watched as golden eyes smoldered and her need grew. Jensen felt Jared’s fangs scrape over his throat and he shuttered in anticipation. He frowned slightly in confusion when Jared pulled away.

The vampire just grinned, kissed Jensen on the lips, and said, “Lay down for me.”

Jensen shrugged and did as he was told, lowering himself to the bed as Jared moves between his spread legs. Danneel got up on her knees, near his face and Jensen thought he could really get behind this position but she didn’t move to straddle his face. She handed Jared lube and thread her fingers through each of Jensen’s, pinning his arms on either side of him to the bed. 

She grinned down at him, “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking, or that I’m not totally for it at another time,” she winks, “but I want that pretty mouth of yours free to make those noises I love so much.”

Jensen was a little confused. Not like, virgin, which hole does it go in, confused. But more like, why are we making a big deal out of this, confused. Because he thought that Jared was going to fuck him open with his fingers while blowing him and, yeah, Jensen tended to be vocally enthusiastic when that happens. But, Jared and Danneel seemed to know something he didn’t and he didn’t know how to feel about that. 

He kind of forgot about the confusion when Jared’s fingers slid into him, two already, and immediately start searching for that sweet spot. He found it with practiced ease, the pads of his fingers pressed into it on each move inward. Jensen is already seeing stars, his legs spreading themselves wider without his permission.

Danneel had leaned over to lick at his nipples, and maybe she had a point about his mouth and those noises because Jensen’s vocabulary had narrowed down to the words Jared and fuck. He also may have made some embarrassing porn noises that he would never admit to. He understood pretty quickly what Jared and Danneel knew that Jensen didn’t. Vampires can feed from other places aside from the neck. Why was he not aware of this?

Jared’s got three fingers in Jensen when the sucking and licking on his upper right thigh turned to nibbling at a certain spot. This spot, Jensen will later learn, is called the femoral artery and is the second largest in the body. Suddenly Jared bit down, fangs sinking deep, and Jensen realized why Danneel was holding his arms and Jared was pressing his thighs to the bed. The parts of Jensen that weren’t held to the bed, mainly his chest and stomach, arched up off the mattress in one lithe curve as he let out a guttural, jagged cry. The pain was the first thing he registers, bright and burning as it rippled out across his body from his thigh.

The second emotion washed away the pain almost instantly. Jensen felt the blood seeping out of the bite on his thigh, looked down to see Jared drinking. With the feeling of suction came this tight, catching feeling traveling along his skin. He could still feel Jared’s fingers inside his body, still working his sweet spot, and Jensen’s head started to swim. His body is still bucking up against Jared and Danneel’s hold and was making little helpless whimpering noises in the back of his throat.

Jared stopped drinking. He pulled away from the wound and moaned like someone who was trying to say no to another glass of fine wine. Jensen felt Danneel’s hands where they touched his, warming up, and he knew she was healing him so he didn’t bleed out; that wasn’t the plan, tonight anyway. He could barely breathe much less form coherent thought and his body screamed at him for release.

Danneel sat back again to watch as Jared pulled Jensen’s knees up, just as impatient at this point, and pushed in with one smooth thrust. The tight ring of muscle gave way and Jensen managed to relax after just a few seconds, begging Jared to fucking move already. He did, pumping in and out, driving forward and angling up.

Jensen groaned his appreciation, both of them breathing hard as the heat in the room created lines of sweat that dripped down and over each other. The sweat created more lubrication and their bodies glided with ease against each other. The rhythm was too rough to kiss properly, but Danneel was there as the link between them. She was still kneeling above Jensen’s head, but she leaned over to kiss Jensen and then up to kiss Jared, licking into their mouths as their breaths puff out in shared pleasure and exertion. 

Jensen came first, no warning except his fists tightening in the sheets. He shouted out Jared’s name into Danneel’s mouth and his body shook as his muscles froze. His cock, untouched, shot streams of hot liquid onto his and Jared’s stomachs. Jared groaned in the back of his throat as Jensen’s tight heat clenched down around his cock. He managed about three more fast strokes before he came too, spilling into Jensen as he breathed cuss words into the warm air of the bedroom.

Jared collapsed on his back beside Jensen and they stared at each other trying to take deep breathes.  Jensen chuckled and his voice was a bit hoarse from screaming when he said, “I think you broke me.”

Jared grins, “Fuck that man, I think I broke my dick.”

Danneel leaned over them and they both look up at her, “Well, then someone better lend a talented tongue because I’m close.”

Jared laughed, “Come here you freakin’ princess…”

Danneel smirked like she knows it before crawling over to straddle Jared’s shoulders. Jensen watched with rapt attention as Jared’s big hands cover her hips and guide her down till his mouth is pressed between her legs. Danneel threw her head back on a sigh that turned into a groan while Jared put his tongue to work.

Jensen’s body made a valiant, stirring effort to show his arousal but that wasn’t happening again this soon. Instead, he turned on his side and leaned up to suck a mark into Danneel’s hip and then outer thigh. She hadn’t been kidding about being close, after only a few minutes, she shuddered out her release. 

Her breathy moans turned to short loud cries as she came apart. She had her hands gripped in her hair as she rocked her hips into Jared’s face. Finally, she rolled off Jared and lay panting and heaving on the sheets.

Finally she found words again, “I really love your tongue Jared.”

Jensen chuckles, “Me too.”

Jared sighs, “Yeah, I’m pretty awesome.”

They lay together in silence, flushed and sticky skin pressed together at various places. In the silence Jensen can hear the sounds of the waves hitting the shore in the distance, coming in through the window. 

He looked over at Jared and Danneel, “I love you,” he said, and he’s talking to both of them.

They both grin, “I love you too,” they say, almost at the same time.

Jensen stared at the ceiling as he let Danneel’s soft breathing and Jared’s out of tune humming lull him into a light sleep. He thought about where he had been just a few weeks ago in comparison to where he was now. What he had given up, what he still had left to give up, and what he had found in return.

It was like his Great Aunt used to say to him, “Love, honey, is like a Texas thunderstorm. It shakes you down, soaks you through, and lights you up. But, only the truly fearless can stand outside long enough to watch how something so fearsome can usher in the bluest skies and the sweetest smelling wind to ever hit your face. Someday, honey, you’re goin’ find someone worth withstandin’ that thunderstorm with…”

And Jensen hadn’t believed her, had thought his Aunt had been full of the same ideas those romance novels put in Katie’s head. But it was Jensen who had been wrong, who had doubted life’s ability to surprise him or give him something worth holding onto. But life had shown him how wrong he was, and his Aunt had been right all along- love was like a Texas thunderstorm. 

Jensen was the sharp thunder, Jared was the bright and blazing lightening, and Danneel was the rushing rain.

 They could withstand anything together: fearless, eternal, strong.

And he could taste the sweet smelling wind on his tongue.

**End**

 

  



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